Thamil Chelvan, Bishops discuss peace prospects

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2001, 19:03 GMT]
The leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers, Mr.S.P Thamil Chelvan Wednesday welcomed the delegation of Sri Lanka's catholic Bishops who are on a peace mission in the Vanni Wednesday, church sources said. Mr. Thamil Chelvan met the bishops for two hours in Mallavi, they added. The Catholic Bishops are on a mission to the Vanni to discuss prospects for bringing about a peaceful settlement to Sri Lankaís ethnic conflict.
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Third party 'crucial' in any peace talks- Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 April 2001, 14:33 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said this week that the involvement of a third party was crucial in any negotiations between them and the Sri Lankan government, and suggested that Norway might be fill that role as an extension of Oslo's present efforts to bring about talks between the two sides. In an interview to the Tamil Guardian weekly, the latest issue of which hit the newsstands in London Tuesday, the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham said "In our perspective the third party involvement is crucial even after the commencement of the negotiations."
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Tigers urge de-proscription and ceasefire for talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2001, 10:20 GMT]
Mr. S.P.Tamil Chelvan, the Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has called upon the government of Sri Lanka to lift the ban on his organisation and reciprocate positively to the LTTE's unilateral cease-fire as essential pre-requisites for the commencement of political negotiations. This message was conveyed through the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Mr. Jon Westborg when he had lengthy discussions with the political leaders of the LTTE in Mallavi, Vanni, northern Sri Lanka yesterday and today morning, the organisation said in a press release Saturday.
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Norway Ambassador, Thamil Chelvan hold talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2001, 16:17 GMT]
Norway’s Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jan Westborg and an official of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangland held discussions with Mr. S. Thamil Chelvan, the leader of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, at Pallamadu in the Vanni this afternoon from 4 p.m., Voice of Tigers said in its night news broadcast Friday. The radio did not comment on the content or nature of the discussions between Norway’s Ambassador and Mr. Thamil Chelvan.
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Blair urged over Jaffna journalists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2001, 07:21 GMT]
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was Wednesday urged by Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) to raise the issue of press freedom in Sri Lanka and in particular the murder of the BBC journalist for Jaffna, Mayilvanagam Nimalarajan, with visiting Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumratunge. In a letter Wednesday, RSF’s General secretary, Robert Menard, urged Mr. Blair also over the abusive detention of another Jaffna journalist by Sri Lankan security forces since January 2.
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‘Prolonged detention of Jaffna journalist worrying’ - RSF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 March 2001, 11:30 GMT]
In a letter to the Sri Lankan Minister of Justice, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration, Professor G. L. Peiris, Thursday, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders RSF), the Paris based media watchdog, called for the release of Subramaniam Thiruchelvan, the correspondent for the state run Tamil daily Thinakaran in Point Pedro in Jaffna. The journalist has been detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) since 2 January 2001. Robert Ménard, general secretary of RSF, notes in his letter that “this prolonged and excessive detention of a journalist from the Jaffna peninsula is a very worrying warning to all media professionals working there, especially since it has occurred a few months after the still unpunished crime against reporter Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan from Jaffna.”
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Top LTTE official escapes ambush

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 February 2001, 19:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army commandos Monday ambushed senior LTTE officials as they were leaving after meeting an inter-religious peace group at Madhu in the Vanni, sources said. The LTTE officials' vehicle was caught in a claymore blast which badly damaged it, but the occupants escaped unhurt, the sources said.
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Jaffna journalist tortured in solitary confinement

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 January 2001, 13:57 GMT]
A senior Jaffna journalist held incommunicado by the Sri Lankan Police since 2 January was assaulted with pipes and tortured, Human Rights Commission officials who were permitted to see him this weekend said Monday. The journalist, Mr. Nadarajah Thiruchelvam, had been held handcuffed for 12 days in solitary confinement by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Police, they said. The police have neither filed any charges against Mr. Thiruchelvam nor have produced him in a court.
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Arrest of journalist raises doubts - SLTMA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 January 2001, 15:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police refused to let relatives visit the Jaffna journalist, Nadarajah Thiruchelvam, who was arrested and detained on 2 January in Colombo. The journalist is being held by the Terrorism Investigation Unit (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police. The Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists’ Association in a statement issued Sunday questioned the real motive behind the indefinite detention of Mr.Thiruchelvam.
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RSF protests journalist's arrest

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2001, 16:04 GMT]
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Media, Mangala Samaraweera, on Friday, Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) protested against the detention since 2 January 2001 of Subramaniam Thiruchelvan, a journalist from Jaffna, by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID). RSF asked the Minister to inform it of the reasons for this detention.
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Tigers call for "unconditional talks in conducive climate"

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2000, 12:57 GMT]
In his annual Heroes Day speech, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan declared Monday that his organisation is prepared for unconditional peace talks with the Sri Lanka government but insisted on a process of de-escalation of war and the creation of a conducive climate of goodwill and normalcy in the Tamil homeland to facilitate such talks. A translation of Mr. Pirapahran's speech released by the LTTE from its London offices quoted him as saying that by normalcy he meant "the restoration of normal civilian life by removing the economic blockade and other restrictions imposed on the Tamil people".
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Thousands mourn slain Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2000, 14:09 GMT]
More than four thousand mourners took part in the funeral of the slain Tamil journalist Nimalrajan Saturday as he was laid to rest in the cemetery of the church of Konjanji Maatha this afternoon in Jaffna town around 3.30 p.m. Posters condemning his killing came up in many parts the peninsula. Black flags were also flown in the town. Meanwhile, in Colombo, the opposition Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) charged that the EPDP was behind the Nimalrajan's killing.
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SLA assaults Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2000, 12:54 GMT]
A journalist working for the Jaffna daily, Valampuri, was beaten up by Sri Lanka army soldiers Saturday evening near the scene of a fire in a paint shop in Nelliyadi town. More than fifteen civilians were also assaulted by the soldiers. The journalist, Velupillai Thavachelvam, said that he went to see the burning shop with the permission of the Police.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2000, 20:48 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) army soldiers are wounded in Nelliady, the estate workers to go on strike demanding pay increase and a tamil youth is wounded when Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) shoots at fishermen.
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Nine parties contest in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Five political parties and an Independent Group today submitted their nomination papers to contest the Trincomalee electoral district during the forthcoming general elections.
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Court releases arrested Trinco students

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2000, 17:03 GMT]
Two students of Chelvanayagapuram Tamil Maha Vidyalayam in Uppuveli in Trincomalee district, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and held in detention, were produced before the Trincomalee acting magistrate, Mr. M.K. Selvarajah yesterday.
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Student boycott extended

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 June 2000, 11:23 GMT]
The boycott campaign launched by the students of Chelvanayapuram Tamil Maha Vidyalayam on Friday has been extended to all schools in the Trincomalee town from Tuesday.
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Editor's Guild challenges censorship

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 June 2000, 12:19 GMT]
The Editor's guild has filed a fundamental Rights application in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the Regulation making powers of the President under Section 5 of the Public Security Ordinance. This is the section under which the government has imposed the wide ranging censorship of the news, and banned the publication of three newspapers.
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Parents of POWs meet Journalists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2000, 08:03 GMT]
"The head of the LTTE Political section, Thamilchelvan, informed us that if a government mediator from the South can bring proposals acceptable to the LTTE, the LTTE is prepared to free the remaining prisoners in custody," said S.A.Ranbanda, parent of a Prisoner of War (POW), when the parents met journalists yesterday afternoon in Colombo, after returning from Vanni.
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POWs released on humanitarian grounds

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2000, 18:21 GMT]
The four POWs were released today on instructions by the leader of the Liberation Tigers Mr.V.Pirapaharan, on humanitarian grounds, responding to requests made by their parents, wives and children, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said today in its night broadcast.
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