TNA rally exhorts political prisoners' release

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 12:19 GMT]
"There will soon be a permanent ceasefire, normalcy might gradually be restored, we may even have freedom of movement in our land - but we must not let all these distract us from our goal and slacken our resolve to struggle on for our rights as a nation", said Mr. K. Thangavadivel, the Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, addressing a meeting at the conclusion of a 'Paatha Yaaththirai' (foot pilgrimage), Sunday from the southern and northern quarters of the eastern town urging Colombo to release Tamil political prisoners and lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers.
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War strategy flop costs thousands their hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 February 2002, 15:09 GMT]
The bombed out shell of the Kilinochchi District hospital stands mute witness to a failed Sri Lanka army strategy. The hospital was the largest government medical facility in the Vanni until Sri Lanka Air Force jets destroyed it in bombing raids in early 1996. Dr.S.Vigneswaran, the District Medical Officer, says rebuilding the Kilinochchi hospital would cost more than 150 million rupees (approx- 1.6 million USD. 1 USD = 93 LKR). He now runs the hospital out of a small medical centre in the interior village of Akkarayan south of Kilinochchi.
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Stringent embargo continues to afflict Mutur east

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 February 2002, 07:33 GMT]
The embargo on the free supply of food, fertilizers, kerosene and most essentials, including boxes of matches and sugar, to Mutur east in the southern part of the Trincomalee district is still strictly enforced by the Sri Lanka army at the Kattaiparichchaan entry point, according to the TamilNet's correspondent in the eastern port town who visited the region Thursday. However, "Help for Peace" says a new signpost in English and Tamil at the SLA's Kattaiparichchaan entry point. From Tuesday, the SLA eased stringent controls on civilians from other parts of the district entering Mutur east following several appeals to the Sri Lankan security forces commander for Trincomalee.
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Optimism grows over permanent ceasefire

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2002, 18:14 GMT]
Substantial progress has been made in the ongoing facilitatory efforts by the Norwegian government to formalise and finalise a stable and structured ceasefire between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the organisation's chief negotiator and political advisor Anton Balasingham said Monday.
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Amnesty slams zero prosecutions for rape in military custody

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2002, 12:48 GMT]
Complaints of rape in custody by army, police and navy officials increased markedly in Sri Lanka last year, Amnesty International said in a new report published Monday. Amnesty said rapes in the context of armed conflict "are now recognized as a war crime and, when committed on a systematic basis or large scale, a crime against humanity."
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Thondaman meets LTTE in Mutur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2002, 17:02 GMT]
Mr. Arumugam Thondaman, a senior cabinet minister of the United National Front government, had discussions with the Liberation Tigers in Sampur, a village held by them south of the eastern port town of Trincomalee, Sunday. Mr. Arumugan Thondaman who is also the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, a powerful trade union in the island's plantation industry, is the first minister of the UNF government to visit an area in the northeast province held by the LTTE. Mr. Arumugan Thondaman is the Minister for Housing and Estate Infrastructure.
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Kilinochchi struggles to limp back to life (photos)

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2002, 01:16 GMT]
The TamilNet correspondent for Vavuniya visited the Vanni recently after the Sri Lankan government eased the ban on local and foreign journalists visiting the LTTE held region. The following are a glimpse of the war-devastated land and its battle scarred life.
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Buddhist leaders oppose lifting ban, urge colonisation

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2002, 23:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline Buddhist clergy Thursday urged the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe not to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers and to continue the colonisation of Tamil areas in the north and east, the state-owned Daily News reported Saturday. The PM had vowed that the newly elected United National Front (UNF) government will never take any action detrimental to the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and rejected the Tamil homeland concept, the paper said. The Prime Minister agreed to look into the matter of colonisation.
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Opposition mounts to lifting of LTTE ban

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2002, 01:54 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP), the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the Sinhala right wing MEP, a constituent of the main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) are to jointly campaign against the de-proscription of the Liberation Tigers, The Island newspaper said Friday. The day after Sri Lanka’s newly elected United National Front (UNF) government said “deep thought” should be given to de-proscription, the JVP - the third force in Sri Lankan politics - said that they have initiated talks with the PA to oppose such a move, the paper added.
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Kadirgamar's conduct in peace initiative suspect -Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2002, 17:17 GMT]
"When your own conduct in the matter of negotiations with the LTTE with the aid of Norwegian involvement is subject to grave suspicion, I would consider it quite imprudent that you cast aspersions on the other party (the LTTE) and think that you can get away with it", the Tamil National Alliance's parliamentary group leader Mr. R. Sampanthan told former Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, while addressing the Parliament Thursday during the special debate on the Prime Minister's policy statement Thursday. The TNA leader said President Chandrika Kumaratunga "missed the wood for the trees" when she resorted to the military option against the Tamils.
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Ex-garrison town schools await succour

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2002, 13:31 GMT]
More than forty schools in the Kilinochchi education zone were damaged by floods in the region during the recent monsoon, officials said. Most of these schools were functioning in temporary sheds as their permanent structures have been destroyed in heavy bombing and shelling since 1996 when the Sri Lanka army captured and garrisoned the town. Education officials said they have not received funds for repairs although damaged to the temporary shacks and partially destroyed buildings in which children study has been estimated at 5 million rupees (53,000 USD). The Liberation Tigers overran the large SLA garrison in Kilinochchi in September 1998.
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LTTE welcomes de-proscription moves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2002, 13:35 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, Wednesday welcomed the Sri Lankan government's decision to review its proscription of the LTTE so as to pave the way for future negotiations with the organisation. Contacted by TamilNet over Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe's comments in Parliament Tuesday, Mr. Balasingham said the de-proscription of the LTTE was a long-standing impediment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. He also criticised comments by former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar urging the new government not to lift the ban on the LTTE.
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(Photographs) Tigers release 10 POWs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2002, 08:59 GMT]

Ms. Vishaka Dharmadasa, the leader of the organisation for women affected by the war, speaking to one of the released men at the LTTE's political wing office. (Photo:TamilNet)

The Liberation Tigers released 10 prisoners of war as a good will gesture towards strengthening the peace process with the United National Front government on Monday in the northern town of Kilinochchi.
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Norway works on permanent ceasefire draft

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 15:08 GMT]
A delegation of the Norwegian government Tuesday met the Liberation Tigersí chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, for another round of discussions regarding the formulation of a structured, mutually acceptable ceasefire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces, sources close to the LTTE told TamilNet.
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Don't exploit LTTE ban for narrow gains -Ranil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 14:28 GMT]
"We have no right to play around with this last chance we have to achieve peace in Sri Lanka. We also have no right to indulge in narrow political aims making use of the ban on the LTTE. Like with the war the economy has deteriorated by serious proportions. For the first time in three decades the country's economy is set to show a zero or even a negative growth. It may even be as much as seven points below zero. The country is near bankruptcy," said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Tuesday in his first policy statement to the Parliament since coming to power.
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LTTE for strengthening UNF peace initiative -Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 11:45 GMT]
"We respect the reasonable feelings of the Sinhala people. We only want our people to live in their land with honour and freedom and to enjoy all their rights sans military restrictions and intimidation. We want our people to have the freedoms and rights which the Sinhala people are able to enjoy now.
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Police translator found wanting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 11:25 GMT]
The East High Court Monday held that the policeman who translated the confession purported to have been made by a woman arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Tamil into Sinhala was not competent in both languages. The Police translator could not give the correct meanings of the Tamil and Sinhala words that were put to him by the Defence Attorney during the cross examination. In cases filed under the PTA, the confession of the accused is the sole production required for indictment.
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Court rejects torture-induced confessions

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 06:08 GMT]
The East High Court Monday held that the confession made by a Tamil youth of Trincomalee charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act had been made under duress due to torture by the security forces who had arrested and detained him. "Hence I acquit the accused from one case following the Voire Dire inquiry and discharge him from the other twelve cases as the prosecution has withdrawn indictments against him," said Mr. S. N. Ramachandran, Judge of the East HC.
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"Lift ban on LTTE, postpone local elections" -TULF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 21:30 GMT]
The Tamil United National Front (TULF), main component of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday appealed to the Government to lift the ban imposed on the Liberation Tigers in Sri Lanka before the commencement of peace talks and not to hold elections to local authorities in the northeast province. " At the last general election the Tamil people have overwhelmingly endorsed the lifting of the ban on the LTTE in Sri Lanka prior to the commencement of peace talks. Furthermore the TULF urges the Government to postpone the holding of the local poll in northeast as the conduct of the election in the current situation could have the effect of retarding negotiations between the Government and the LTTE", said a press release issued by the TULF Secretary General of the TULF Mr. R.Sampanthan Sunday.
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UNF govt. urged to repeal PTA, release detainees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 19:44 GMT]
The All Ceylon Government General Employees Union (ACGGEU) Sunday appealed to the United National Front (UNF)Government to take immediate steps to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and to release all Tamil detainees held under the PTA in several prisons in the island.. A resolution to this effect stated that "the State armed forces use this PTA act to commit various crimes including torture and human rights violation on Tamil people under the pretext of safeguarding the sovereignty of the country".
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