'Pongu Thamil' demos in Batticaloa and Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 January 2001, 17:09 GMT]
Demonstrations were held Wednesday in Vavuniya and Batticaloa in support of the Pongu Thamil rally in Jaffna. Hundreds of undergraduates of the Eastern University in Batticaloa and the College of Education in Vavuniya gathered for peaceful rallies urging the Sri Lankan government to start peace talks with the Liberation Tigers and to recognize the Tamil people's right of self determination.
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Army planning 'all-out' offensive - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2001, 07:33 GMT]
Exploiting the Liberation Tigers' unilateral ceasefire, the Sri Lanka Army is inducting fresh troops, armour and artillery into the Jaffna offensive in preparation for an "all-out" offensive in the Kilali-Nagerkoil, the LTTE said Friday. In an interview with the London-based Tamil Guardian, the LTTE's chief negotiator warned that the Army's "strategy will result in a major escalation of the war."
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Peace activists slam SLA warning

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2001, 16:44 GMT]
The Bishop of the Trincomalee -Batticaloa diocese of the Catholic Church, Rt.Rev.Kingsley Swampillai protested against the Sri Lanka Army's proclamation that it will punish people urging the Sri Lankan government to start peace talks with the Liberations Tigers when he met the military Co-ordinating Officer for the Batticaloa district, Brigadier V.R.Anthonis Thursday. "It is a dangerous development that people who say the war ought to be stopped and call for peace in Sri Lanka should be considered offenders by the army", the bishop said.
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"Peace efforts give us hope" - Bishop Raayappu Joseph

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 January 2001, 08:31 GMT]
"Even though the path towards peace is fraught with obstacles, it is everyone's duty to take careful steps towards achieving peace. Statesmanship, courage, patience and unrelenting focus to reach an amicable solution amidst resistance from extremists, are qualities people are expecting to see in both Leaders," said Mannar Bishop Raayappu Joseph in his millenium message to the nation.
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Police say no to Jaffna Church peace march

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2000, 20:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police Thursday refused permission to the Catholic church in the north to go on a peace procession in Jaffna town. A Catholic church spokesman said that the Police denied permission for the procession on the grounds that the security situation in the Jaffna town did not permit it. He said the march had been organised as a remembrance of a saint of the church.
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World supports self-determination says UK

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 November 2000, 03:11 GMT]
(News Feature) Britain’s Foreign Office Minister, Peter Hain, Wednesday expressed his government’s support for Norway’s efforts to bring about negotiations to end Sri Lanka’s protracted conflict and urged compromise on both sides. "I am convinced that both the [Sri Lankan] government’s insistence upon the territorial sovereignty of the whole island and the LTTE’s objective of autonomy can be secured," he said. "But for that to happen the shooting must stop and the talking must start."
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SLA troops kill student, wound another

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2000, 11:25 GMT]
"The army shoots civilians whenever it comes into Kaluwankerny. This is why innocent civilians in the village run for their life when they know the army is entering the area. My son went behind the house when he saw people running on the road, shouting "the army is coming into the village". He was killed there by soldiers who shot him and his friend" said Vairamuthu Manikkavel, 48, at the inquest into the death of his son the M.Vijayatharsan, 20, before Batticaloa district judge J. Viswanathan at the Eravur hospital Saturday.
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Key witness in Batticaloa massacre threatened

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 July 2000, 12:28 GMT]
Father Joseph Ignatius Chandra, the key witness in the massacre of civilians in Batticaloa town by a section of the Sri Lanka army on May 17 has been threatened by armed persons suspected to be members of the Sri Lankan security forces and cadres of Tamil para-military groups operating with the Sri Lanka army in the east.
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Bishop says 500 civilian casualties in Madduvil

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 June 2000, 19:41 GMT]
The Bishop of the Catholic Church in Mannar Rt.Rev.Dr. Rayappu Joseph said in appeal sent to the heads of foreign missions in Colombo that there were more than five hundred civilian casualties due to bombing and shelling by Sri Lankan security forces in the Madduvil area, close to Chavakachcheri in Jaffna. "I am given to understand that the attitude of the armed forces is that 'it is better to kill the people than allow them to go into the LTTE controlled areas' the Bishop states in the appeal.
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Tigers overrun Pallai SLA base

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 April 2000, 14:40 GMT]
The combat formations of the Liberation Tigers overran the massive military base at Pallai and took control of the town and its surrounding villages today the organisation said in a press release from its London offices. The Tigers said with the fall of Pallai town, the Liberation Tigers have secured a strongly entrenched foothold in the Thenmarachchi division of the peninsula facilitating their advance towards the capital of Jaffna.
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Four civilians killed in shelling

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 13:52 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and 11 injured when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) based in Naagar Kovil opened up a heavy barrage of shelling on a group of refugees taking shelter in a catholic church in the village of Chempiyanpattu in the Vadamaradchi East division, today, LTTE sources in London said.
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'Let us go' say Jaffna refugees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2000, 20:55 GMT]
"Do you intend to give us 2000 rupees to buy our coffins?" "Are you going to let us be used as human shields?" asked angry refugees from the war zones in the southern sector of Jaffna when senior government officials went to distribute dry rations among them this morning. More than three thousand civilians who fled the war have been blocked at Kilali by the Sri Lanka Army since Sunday. The irate refugees were reacting to reports in the media that the government had promised to give 2000 rupees (28 USD) as relief to each family displaced from the war zone near Jaffna's gateway garrison following representations made by Tamil Parliamentarians about their plight yesterday.
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War zone refugees arrive

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2000, 13:32 GMT]
More than five thousand Tamils in the Pallai and Pachchilaipalli areas in Jaffna arrived at Kilali late this morning, Catholic church sources in the north said. Most of the civilians were blocked at Kilali by the Sri Lanka army. Only about 200 families were allowed until noon to proceed beyond Kilali to Mirusuvil. The Catholic church is the only organisation assisting the people arriving from the war zone, according to the Tamilnet correspondent who was at Kilali and Mirusuvil today.
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Refugee crisis in Jaffna war zones

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 17:08 GMT]
Local officials and Catholic church sources said today that they are fast running out of rice gruel for more than 7500 persons displaced in the Pallai sector due to the fighting between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army. They said there aren't funds or supplies to feed the people who fled the shelling in Pallai and Maasar, north of the Elephant Pass garrison, since Monday, March 27 as all civilian transport has come to a halt because of the fighting on the A9 highway and the interior between Pallai and Eluthumadduval.
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Pallai patient succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 13:53 GMT]
A seriously wounded civilian transferred today from Pallai to the Jaffna hospital died this evening. The woman, Rasalingam Sriranjani Rajeswary, was admitted to the Pallai hospital with severe injuries on March 28 when the fighting between the Sri Lanka army and the Liberation Tigers was raging in several sectors of the Thenmaradchi division.
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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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NEMC for North east merger

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2000, 12:53 GMT]
The newly formed political party called North East Muslim Congress (NEMC) has announced that they support a merged province where Tamil and Muslim communities enjoy equal rights and privileges under one autonomous council.
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Jaffna fishermen protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2000, 07:03 GMT]
More than 7000 fishermen today staged a protest march demanding that the ban on fishing in the Jaffna lagoon be lifted. The fishermen began their march from Jaffna St James Church towards the District Secretariat to hand over a memorandum to be sent to the President of the country.
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Jaffna election booths relocated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 1999, 07:44 GMT]
Number of polling stations in the Jaffna district have been relocated due to prevailing war situation in the peninsula, said the Assistant Commissioner of Elections S.Nadarajah.
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Chemmani report submitted to Court

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 December 1999, 12:36 GMT]
A seventy-five page report about the exhumations conducted at the Chemmani graves recently was submitted to the Jaffna Magistrate, Mr. M. Illancheliyan, this morning by State Counsel Yasantha Gothakoda. Thirty-three of the pages contained photographs of the skeletons exhumed from the site.
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