Ratwatte's return provokes commotion in Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 17:49 GMT]
Pandemonium prevailed in the Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday morning when the controversial former Deputy Defense Minister General Anurudhha Ratwatte entered the legislature. Members of the ruling party and the opposition shouted at each other when they saw General Ratwatte who was released on bail last week, walking to the well of the House to take his seat. The United National Front accuses him of unleashing violence, intimidation, election rigging and murder while he was the powerful deputy minister of defense in the People's Alliance government from 1995 to 2001
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Sri Lanka's conditions for talks create an 'impasse' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 12:42 GMT]
The Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka has been delayed by the government’s failure to implement the terms of the permanent ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers and is threatened by the hostile intervention of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, told the Tamil Guardian this week.
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Jaffna drive against ‘kassipu’ trade

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
A new drive by local residents to stamp out the illicit liquor trade is underway in Urumpirai, Urelu and Karanthan areas of Jaffna with the support of the police, participants said last week. Meanwhile, in a statement released in Trincomalee, the Liberation Tigers banned the production and sale of illicit liquor, press reports said last week.
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Sri Lanka details amendments to strength Parliament against President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2002, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka this week published details of proposed constitutional amendments that it says will bring about “a new political culture.” The main feature, according to the government, is the creation of an executive committee system which will comprise the elected representatives of both the ruling and the opposition parties. But the amendments are clearly designed to protect Parliament from Sri Lanka’s powerful Executive Presidency.
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Military intransigence, LTTE ban thwart direct talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2002, 11:09 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan military's continuing refusal to implement the terms and conditions of the 3-month old permanent ceasefire and the government's back-pedalling on the issue of deproscription of the Liberation Tigers is thwarting the holding of direct talks between the two sides, the Tamil Guardian newspaper quoted Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief negotiator and political advisor as saying Monday.
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Norwegian Deputy FM in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 May 2002, 18:09 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgessen, arrived Colombo Saturday early morning ahead of meetings with Sri Lankan government and opposition officials. He was accompanied by Mr. Jon Westborg, Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka who also returned after two weeks in Oslo, sources said.
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TNA awaits action despite assurances

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 14:30 GMT]
(News Feature) An alliance of four Tamil parties said Friday that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, had “responded positively” to the three key issues they had raised: the deproscription of the Liberation Tigers, setting up of an interim administration in the northeast province and the full implementation of the cease-fire agreement before the commencement of the direct peace talks. Despite the Premier’s assurances the Tamil delegation said they remained concerned about his government’s ability to meet the promises.
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Point Pedro students protest army presence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2002, 11:39 GMT]
Hundreds of students from two high schools in Point Pedro Thursday protested demanding the immediate removal of Sri Lanka Army camps from their schools’ premises. The demonstration, which started at 9 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., was held in front of the Hartley College, but students from the nearby Vadamaradchi Methodist Girls' College also joined in, sources said.
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Sri Lanka govt. peace team meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2002, 23:21 GMT]
The Chairman of the Sri Lankan government's Peace Secretariat Mr. Bernard Goonatilake Tuesday evening briefed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the two hours discussion he had with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan at the headquarters of the LTTE's political division in Kilinochchi earlier in the day, government sources said.
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Pandemonium in Sri Lanka Parliament over local polls

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2002, 15:51 GMT]
Pandemonium reigned in the Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday when the Speaker refused permission to the leader of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Mr.Wimal Weerawansa to speak against alleged malpractices in Monday's local elections. The Speaker adjourned the sittings for fifteen minutes as the situation in the house was beyond his control, with MPs of the main opposition Peoples Alliance and the JVP shouting slogans and holding placards in the chamber denouncing the manner in which local elections were conducted Monday.
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Posters in Colombo denounce 'Norway-Ranil plot'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2002, 22:21 GMT]
Sinhala nationalist groups in Sri Lanka this week stepped up their campaign against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's attempt to strike a peace deal with the Liberation Tigers. Thousands of posters put up all over the city by one group say, "Let's defeat the Norway-Ranil plan to hand over the country to the Tigers".
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Jaffna villagers write to Ranil

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 17:28 GMT]
Residents of Varani, Maaseri and Kudamiyan in Jaffna wrote to Sri Lankaís Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe Saturday asking him to relocate the Sri Lanka army camp blocking the main road through their villages in accordance with the ceasefire agreement between his government and the Liberation Tigers. More than five hundred villagers have signed the letter. The SLA camp is in the midst of the village, straddling the main road. The military occupies twelve houses in Varani.
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PA leader slams truce agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 00:49 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) party Thursday launched a bitter attack in Parliament on the permanent ceasefire signed by the ruling United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers in February, accusing the international truce monitors of being biased towards the Tigers.
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Parliament to debate cease-fire agreement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 May 2002, 22:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government Wednesday agreed to hold a full day debate in Parliament with the main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) on the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), officials said. The debate will be held Thursday from 10 a.m. till 4.30 p.m.
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"Settlement sans traditional homeland concept" - PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 20:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said that a system of devolution of power must be found at the negotiating table without dividing the country and without accepting the concept of a traditional Tamil homeland. He was addressing the first May Day rally of the United National Front (UNF) government held Wednesday at Colombo Municipal Council grounds.
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Tamil journalists still face danger - RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:02 GMT]
The Reporters Sans Frontiers, the French media watchdog, said in its annual report on press freedom released Wednesday that working conditions for Tamil journalists remain very dangerous in Sri Lanka, especially when they report on human rights violations. "They are easily accused of supporting the Tamil Tigers guerrilla movement. The 1998 Emergency Law allows security forces to arrest anyone suspected of maintaining relations with this banned separatist organisation. But how can anyone work in the north and east of the country without having contacts with the Tamil Tigers, who are everywhere?" the RSF report said.
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PM meets prelates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 April 2002, 16:02 GMT]
The Prime Minister Saturday told the prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters in Kandy that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cannot open political offices outside the North-east province. "It will be a violation of the cease-fire agreement signed by the government and the LTTE if the latter decided to open its offices in other parts of the country," Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said in reply to Mahanayake Theras when they questioned him about the news reports that LTTE is to open its office in Wellawatte, Colombo on Monday.
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Monks protest against peace deal

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 April 2002, 19:29 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks protested against peace talks between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government and the Liberation Tigers in downtown Colombo Monday. "The interim administration is a ploy to hand over the northeast to the Tigers. The United National Front government is betraying the Sinhalese", said a spokes person for the protesting monks.
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Peace march to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 April 2002, 23:17 GMT]
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe inaugurated a peace march from Kataragama to Jaffna, which set off Sunday afternoon. The 20-day, 560 km peace march began after religious ceremonies at a Buddhist temple in Kataragama, a pilgrim town in the deep south, about 160 km south-east of Colombo. The twenty-day peace march is taking the pinnacle to the newly built Chaithiya at a Buddhist temple in Jaffna.
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SLMC leader optimistic over peace prospects

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 April 2002, 18:30 GMT]
The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Mr.Rauff Hakeem Saturday said that his talks with the leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr.V.Pirapaharan would certainly facilitate the peace process. "My party would commit itself to help to take the peace process forward," Mr. Hakeem said in an interview to the state run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).
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