Court releases Vavuniya Red Cross head

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2000, 16:46 GMT]
Sivanathan Kishore, the head of the Vavuniya branch of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC), who was arrested by the Sri Lankan Police allegedly for links with the Liberation Tigers and detained for more than 16 months under the draconian Prevention Terrorism Act (PTA) was released Monday without charges by the Colombo high court.
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LTTE ambush kills three

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2000, 15:12 GMT]
A Police officer and two Home Guards were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at 11th Colony in the boarder between Batticaloa and Ampara Districts Sunday morning. Two Home Guards were also wounded in the incident, sources said.
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UNP first to seek Norway's help - Bondevik

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2000, 19:03 GMT]
The United National Party was the first to seek Norway's assistance in the effort to find a political settlement to the ethnic conflict on the island when it was in power in 1990 according to Mr.Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Norwegian Prime Minister. he made this statement when delivering the keynote address at the commemoration meeting to mark the first death anniversary of veteran foreign minister A.C.S.Hameed, held at Colombo Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall Thursday evening.
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Anti-Tamil protesters threaten Karen Parker at UN

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2000, 14:34 GMT]
Karen Parker, a human rights lawyer was intimidated and threatened by anti-LTTE demonstrators protesting outside the United Nation in Geneva Friday. Some of the demonstrators had pursued her, screaming insults and confronted her when they caught up, Ms. Parker, who is a well known figure in legal circles interested in Sri Lanka, told TamilNet Monday. She had been rescued by a passing Swiss national, she said, adding that the matter had been reported to the Swiss police and would be filed with the UN's Special Rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary.
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India to sell military hardware to Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 12:30 GMT]
India has decided to sell military hardware to Sri Lanka and negotiations are on to clinch the deal on an offshore patrol vessel for the Sri Lankan navy, according to Indian press reports Friday. The newindpress.com website, quoting sources in India's Ministry of Defence (MoD), said the Indian navy has earmarked an offshore patrol vessel (OPV), INS Shardae, made at Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakhapatanam for sale to Sri Lanka.
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Tigers attack two SLA camps in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 22:41 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps located near the Puthukulam junction in the Mannar district were attacked and destroyed by the Liberation Tigers Wednesday, the Voice of Tigers radio said in its night news broadcast today. At least 9 SLA soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in the attacks, the radio added.
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Five wounded in Valaichenai ambush

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 05:37 GMT]
Four military trained Policemen were wounded in ambush by the Liberation Tigers in Valaichenai town Wednesday night around 11.30 p.m. The Tigers had fired at the policemen who were on a night patrol on the Pansala Road in the high security zone of the town. The general area of Valaichenai is dotted with more than ten Sri Lanka army and Police camps.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in LTTE attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2000, 07:46 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka army soldiers were killed and one was wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked a foot patrol on Uppodai road in Vanthaarumoolai, about 20 kilometers north of Batticaloa Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. Reinforcements were rushed to the area following the attack from SLA camps on the Batticaloa-Valaichenai road.
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Three soldiers killed in LTTE ambush

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2000, 14:40 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 2 others were wounded in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Sasthikulankulam, 6 km. west of Vavuniya town, around 5.45 p.m. Friday, security sources in the northern town said.
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Opposition MPs heckle President, tear bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 August 2000, 07:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President spoke on the controversial constitution reform bill in Parliament Thursday morning amidst much clamour in the opposition ranks. The bill was tabled by Justice Minister Prof.G.L Pieris. United National Party members tore copies of the bill in protest and threw them at government members in the house sources said.
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SLA searches for deserters in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2000, 16:21 GMT]
Units of the SLA's 23-2 Brigade in Valaichenai searched the villages of Kalmadhu, Kannankiramam, Karuwakerni, Sungaankerni and Kinnaiyadi, 30 kilometers north of Batticaloa Monday for two soldiers who had deserted their positions Sunday evening. Sources in Valaichenai said that the army had come by information that the two deserters had run away from the kalkudah SLA camp through the villages that were searched today. The SLA has grounds to believe that the two soldiers may have escaped across the lagoon to the hinterland controlled by the Liberation Tigers, a source said.
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SLA needs undermine Jaffna public transport

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2000, 21:10 GMT]
Public transport in the Sri Lanka army held parts of Jaffna is in dire straits due to a shortage of buses, a government official said Friday.
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Sri Lanka requests UK to ban LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2000, 21:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka has a made a formal request to Britain to have the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam proscribed under the new Terrorism Law passed recently in United Kingdom, states a press release issued Friday by the Foreign Ministry Office in Colombo.
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Show package to Buddhist clergy, LTTE -UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 July 2000, 16:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition party said Thursday that the Sri Lankan government should present the final draft proposals on constitutional reforms to the Buddhist clergy, all political parties and the Liberation Tigers before taking the package to Parliament. The United National Party said in a press release this afternoon that the dicussions it had had with the government on constitutional reforms proceeded on the basis that "when consensus was reached, such consensus will be placed before the Maha Sangha, heads of the other religious denominations, all political parties and the LTTE".
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UNP leader walks out of talks with govt.

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 July 2000, 10:37 GMT]
The leader of the Sri Lanka's main opposition party Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe walked out of talks between his party and the government on constitutional changes aimed at resolving the island's ethnic conflict Friday evening in protest against allegations in the state media that he has links with the Liberation Tigers. Mr.Wickremesinghe told the government delegation led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike that he will not take part in talks on the proposed constitutional changes until his name is cleared by the authorities, according to a spokesman of the United National Party.
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Court releases tortured Batticaloa youth

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2000, 08:53 GMT]
The Batticaloa High Court Wednesday released two Tamil youth who had been tortured by the Sri Lankan security forces while in detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The state counsel said that the Attorney General is withdrawing the cases against them and another youth as Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandula Kumara, the chief witness had died. The two youths had been hung by their toes and beaten with pipes, choked in bags filled with petrol and chilli fumes pulled over the head and by immersion in water according to medical reports submitted to the courts by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Batticaloa and the Assistant Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo. The ear drums of one of the youth had burst and bled heavily due to the torture according to the medical reports.
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Foremost place to Buddhism guaranteed -SL govt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 July 2000, 20:48 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government Wednesday said that there is no truth in newspaper reports that Buddhism has no place in its proposed new constitution. Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka MP, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs said that the government's proposals for constitutional change do not alter the "foremost place" given to Buddhism in Sri Lanka's constitution. Tamil political parties say that Article 9 of Sri Lanka's constitution that guarantees Buddhism the foremost place is a major obstacle in drawing up even a "minimally acceptable" scheme for regional autonomy.
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Claymore blast wounds SLA officer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 11:08 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Major and seven soldiers were critically wounded in a claymore mine attack by the Liberation Tigers at Serunuwara in the Mutur area, south-west of Trincomalee, around 12.45 p.m. Tuesday, security sources said.
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Thalaimannar SLN officer under investigation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 11:07 GMT]
An officer of the Sri Lanka Navy base in Thalaimannar, 337 kilometers from Colombo, on the northwestern coast of the island, accused of helping persons in Mannar to take commodities such as cement and spare parts for vehicles to the Vanni region controlled by the Liberation Tigers. The officer was taken in for questioning on information provided by a person arrested by the Navy for transporting these banned commodities by sea, Police investigators in Mannar said.
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Jaffna school boy shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 July 2000, 21:53 GMT]
Somasundaram Sanjeevan, a student studying in General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) at Jaffna Hindu College was shot dead by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on Thursday, 13 July, He was returning home after playing soccer at the school ground when he was shot, the sources said.
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