Trinco arrests violate ceasefire agreement - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 20:37 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday expressed its strong disapproval of a tendency on the part of some sections of the Armed Forces, to take in custody unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers, who are entitled to freedom of movement in the north and east under the provisions of 1.13 of the cease-fire agreement. "The arrests of five unarmed members of Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Trincomalee by the security forces are a violation of the said provision of the cease-fire agreement," said Mr. Mr.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the TNA and the Trincomalee district parliamentarian in a statement issued Thursday.
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Military arrests unarmed Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 10:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military took five unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers into custody in two separate incidents Wednesday, triggering tensions and anger amongst Tamils in Trincomalee, residents said. The LTTE’s political section in the eastern district strongly condemned the military’s actions as a breach of the ceasefire agreement.
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MoD says 'no case' amid public protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 01:18 GMT]
(News Feature) A Sri Lankan Defence Ministry inquiry into the assault of two senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers on June 20 ruled that "there was no evidence ... to establish a case against any individual or person," state media reported. The Defence Ministry statement was issued Wednesday, the day after a massive demonstration in Kilinochchi to protest the attack by Sri Lankan naval personnel and members of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) on the LTTE cadres.
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Vanni returnee abducted, beaten up in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 July 2002, 18:05 GMT]
A father of two children who returned to Point Pedro in Jaffna after more than six years in LTTE held Vanni region Wednesday complained to the Police that he was abducted, beaten up and kept in a dilapidated building for six days. He said that the abductors had chained his hands and legs. Informed sources in Jaffna said his abductors are suspected to be members of the army intelligence unit.
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LTTE urges Muslim Tamil harmony in east

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 July 2002, 16:01 GMT]
"We, the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers, fought face to face in battlefields for 25 years. But today we are seated side by side as friends. All of us should explore the reasons why, while this is so, we, the Muslims and Tamils who speak the same language, are unable to live in amity," said Mr. N. Karikalan, a senior official of the political division of the Liberation Tigers addressing a peace conference in Batticaloa town Wednesday.
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SLMM “has not requested LTTE to stop hartals”

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 23:56 GMT]
International monitors Tuesday denied press reports which claimed they had requested the Liberation Tigers to desist from organising protest strikes (‘hartals’). In a statement, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said it is “not opposed to Hartals, demonstrations, meetings and other activity that can be considered as political and peaceful means of people to express their opinions” but cautioned that those organising protests “must be responsible for keeping [these events] under control.”
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LTTE political office opened at Velanai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 19:59 GMT]
The first political office of the Liberation Tigers in the Jaffna islands was open Tuesday at Velanai Chaatti road. The Assistant Government Agent of Kayts Mr. S.Theivanayagam declared open the office.
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Karikalan, 23 Div. GOC meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 17:34 GMT]
Mr. N. Karikalan, senior official of the LTTE’s political division in the east, had discussions with the General Officer Commanding of the Sri Lanka army’s23 Division, Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennekoon on opening theA5 highway and rebuilding peaceful relations between Tamils and Muslims in the east at the Bishop's House in Batticaloa town Tuesday.
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Jaffna journalist says beaten up, threatened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 05:26 GMT]
The President of the Jaffna journalists' Association, Mr. Veluppillai Thavachelvam complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the International Committee of the Red Cross Tuesday that he was abducted and beaten up by armed persons who accused him of working for the Liberation Tigers.
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LTTE, military discuss recent violence as conspiracy suspected

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 02:43 GMT]
(News Feature) The leaders of the Liberation Tigers' political section in the Amparai-Batticaloa region, Mr. Visu (Head) and Mr. Thurai (Deputy Head) met senior Sri Lankan security officials late Friday night and Saturday to discuss last week's violence in Valaichenai and to seek ways to avoid a repetition of such incidents in the future. Meanwhile LTTE officials in the east, the leader of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party, Mr. Rauf Hakeem, and the Interior Minister, John Amaratunga, said this weekend that elements opposed to the peace process had instigated the recent chain of violence in the eastern province.
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Ceasefire has reduced human rights violations - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 11:15 GMT]
Ending a two-week visit to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International (AI) delegates welcomed the positive engagement and cooperation from both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on issues of human rights and the peace process. "The current climate is one of pragmatic hope," Derek Evans, head of the delegation said. "The cease-fire agreement has made a significant impact in reducing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."
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EPDP snubs official inquiry

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 02:42 GMT]
A Tamil paramilitary organisation whose armed cadres are accused of assaulting senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers snubbed a request by a Sri Lankan government board to send representatives to an inquiry into the incident, press reports said Saturday. Cadres of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) along with army and naval personnel are accused of assaulting the LTTE’s top political cadre in the islets of the Jaffna and one his team members, on June 21.
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SLA troops advance to LTTE lines - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 00:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units in the Kilali-Nagerkoil axis in the Jaffna peninsula have advanced closer to the positions of the Liberation Tigers and taken up positions well inside the minimum separation distance stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, according to complaints received by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Tamil press reports said this week.
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Dutch Ambassador, deputy meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 01:22 GMT]
The Netherlands Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ms. Susan Blankhart met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, Thursday, LTTE sources said. The Ambassador was accompanied by her deputy, Mr. Petrus Jan Kuperus, who is also head of the development co-operation section at the Colombo embassy. The two and a half hour discussion at the LTTE's political headquarters in Kilinochchi was described as "very cordial and constructive," by the sources.
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13 injured in attacks by Islamic extremists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:56 GMT]
Thirteen Tamil civilians were wounded and one killed in attacks by armed persons suspected to be members of an extremist Islamic group in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa Thursday. Islamic extremists wounded four Tamils, one seriously, in a grenade attack in the morning and killed one and wounded nine hours after the Police clamped curfew Thursday afternoon to quell the violence. Ten Tamil women were abducted by the extremists in Oddamaavadi near Valaichenai, sources said.
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Thousands march against Jaffna paramilitary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 11:31 GMT]
More than eight thousand people took part in a protest march and public rally in Kayts in Jaffna Thursday against the activities of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lanka Navy in the islands off the northern peninsula. The protestors shouted slogans denouncing the paramilitary group, a close ally of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, and condemning the attack on LTTE political activists in Kayts on 20 June. The organisers of the march and rally said that cadres of the paramilitary had threatened the public in Kayts Wednesday night to prevent them from participating in the protest.
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Support in Batticalo and Amparai for Trincomalee hartal

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 00:43 GMT]
(News Feature) The hartal in the Trincomalee district organised Tuesday by Tamil civil society organisations drew impromptu support from Tamils in Batticaloa and Amparai districts, press reports said. The hartals were in protest against the attacks on the political activists of the Liberation Tigers at Velanai in Jaffna district and the Muttur LTTE political office in Trincomalee district.
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Islamic extremists attack Mutur journalist's home

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
Armed persons said to be members of an extremist Islamic militant group attacked the home of Tamil journalist, Mr. P. Satsivanantham, in Mutur town Wednesday afternoon, causing considerable damage to equipment and property, Sri Lanka Police sources said. Hundreds of Tamils in Mutur sought refuge in the local Church as armed gangs of an Islamic group calling itself 'Osama Front' went on rampage through the eastern town Wednesday morning, attacking houses in the Tamil neighbourhoods of the eastern town.
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Protest march in Trincomalee against attacks on LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 15:17 GMT]
"The Tamil people of Trincomalee district urge the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to intervene using its good offices and see that the offenders are brought to book and to ensure that similar incidents are not repeated or if not, it will only be proper that the LTTE cadres are allowed to be armed to guard their offices," states the memorandum handed over to the Norwegian Head of the SLMM in Trincomalee Ms Victoria Lund Tuesday.
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Mutur town under curfew after clashes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 14:27 GMT]
(News Feature) Mutur town in the Trincomalee district has been put under night curfew from 12 noon Tuesday till Wednesday morning following clashes between Muslims and Tamils which ended in several injured on both sides, police sources said. Five people have been admitted to the Trincomalee hospital and two are said to be in critical condition, medical sources said.
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