Kanjirankuda inquiry one sided - Chandra Nehru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 November 2002, 02:40 GMT]
"The Committee appointed to investigate the Kanjirankuda violence has produced a grossly one-sided report. I have no faith in this Committee. I urge the Prime Minister to appoint a new Committee that can maintain its independence and conduct an impartial and thorough investigation of the recent violence," said Chandra Nehru, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ampara district while speaking in the Parliament on 8 October.
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Kanjirankuda report unacceptable - Vivekanandan

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 November 2002, 19:34 GMT]
"The report on the Kanjirankuda violence is mainly based on the statements given by members of the Special Task Force (STF) and representatives of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). No prominence is given to statements from the people affected by the violence and therefore I am not accepting the report," said Samithamby Vivekanandan, the only Tamil member of the three member committee appointed by the Sri Lanka Government to investigate the killings of eight Tamil civilians wounding at least 20 at Kanchirankuda on 9 October when the STF opened fire on protestors.
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Tamil member of Kanchirankuda committee dissents

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 November 2002, 17:30 GMT]
The sole Tamil member of the committee appointed by Sri Lanka’s Interior Minister to inquire into the shooting incident at Kanchirankuda on the island’s southeastern coast on October 9, 2002 said Friday that he strongly disagreed with the conclusion of that his colleagues had arrived at.
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LTTE opens Sampoor Police Station

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 November 2002, 17:01 GMT]
The first Tamil Eelam Police Station in the Trincomalee district was declared open Friday morning at Sampoor, a village in Mutur east. The President of the Mutur Mosques Federation, Mr.Alhaj S.M.Javabdeen, unveiled the name board of the Police Station. Mr. Uthayan, Trincomalee District Commander of the LTTE opened the new police station by cutting the ribbon.
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Tigers help IDPs resettle in high security zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 18:08 GMT]
(News Feature) In a major gesture to reiterate their commitment to peace in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers Thursday helped displaced civilians settle in a village situated in one of their most heavily defended high security zones in the north. The village of Kudarappu is on Jaffna’s southeastern coast in the Nagar kovil sector where the armed forces of the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka face each other across heavily defended and mined Defence Lines.
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MP gives up boycott after meeting SLA commanders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 14:22 GMT]
Mr. Gnanamuthu Krishnapillai, Member of Parliament (MP) of Batticaloa district agreed to give up his boycotting of parliament after meeting commanders of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday morning. The MP met with Brigadier S.R. Balasuriya, commander of 23rd division in Minneriya and Colonel R. de Silva, commander of 23-3 Brigade in Batticalo at the MP's residence in Kaluwanchikudi on instructions from Joint Chief of Staff, Lionel Balagalle.
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Mannar Co-op council seeks building from SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 13:09 GMT]
The District Co-operative Council of Mannar has requested Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence to return a two-story building at the entrance to the northwestern town, occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces from 1990, officials said. The building for long functioned as the SLA’s office for issuing permits to civilians for entering and staying in the Mannar Island. The building’s upper floor was used by the SLA for interrogating and detaining civilians arrested on suspicion and during cordon and search operations.
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Co-ordination of Trinco NGO activities stressed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 07:46 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Wednesday stressed better co-ordination between the local non-governmental organisations in implementing rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in the Trincomalee district." From January next year we will supervise all projects carried out by local NGOs in the district with a view to rectify shortcomings, duplication of works and other discrepancies. However, we will not directly interfere with the administration of the NGOs," said Mr.S.Tilak, LTTE district political head at a discussion held Wednesday at Trincomalee Valluvar Kottam.
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More Tamil Eelam police stations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 November 2002, 14:50 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police serice will open its first police station in Trincomalee district at Sampoor on Thursday, LTTE officials in the eastern port town said. The Sampoor station will be the 19th of the Tamil Eelam police service. The Liberation Tigers Tuesday opened a new police station in Palugamam at a ceremony attended by local government officials and community and religious leaders.
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Negotiators to study ethnic conflict resolution models

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 22:07 GMT]
(News Feature) In a major step forward in the Norwegian peace process, both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers said Sunday they are to begin exploring longer term solutions to the island's protracted ethnic conflict. In another surprise announcement at the press conference Sunday which concluded the second round of direct talks between the two sides, the chief negotiators of both sides said they would be examining ethnic conflict resolution efforts from around the world.
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LTTE emphasises cordial relations with Muslims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 18:21 GMT]
"The Tamil Eelam Police force will function without discriminating against anyone on grounds of religion, ethnicity or creed. Our leadership is firm that there should be cordial relations with the Muslim people in this region. Col. Karuna has sent us specific instructions in this regard from Thailand," said T. Ramesh, the Liberation Tigers‚ special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, addressing the opening ceremony of the Tamil Eelam Police station in Palugamam, 30 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa, Tuesday.
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Mylanthanai massacre accused make statements from dock

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 18:20 GMT]
All eighteen accused soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday made statements from the dock in the Colombo High Court (HC) in the Mylanthanai massacre case denying their involvement in the crime. The case is being heard daly from 2nd October before a Sinhala speaking Jury at the request of the accused, who are also Sinhalese.
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Police arrests student in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 16:28 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police Sunday arrested a Tamil student for causing damage to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) property in the high security zone on 2 September during an agitation by residents and students demanding the removal of SLA camps and sentries located in the vicinity of Hartley College and Methodist Girls High School.
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Trinco observes Major Ganesh's sixteenth death anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 14:58 GMT]
The sixteenth death anniversary of Major Ganesh, a commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was observed in Trincomalee district Tuesday. Major Ganesh hailed from Kantalai, a traditional Tamil village that has now become a Sinhala dominated town in the Trincomalee district following systematic state aided colonization schemes under successive governments.
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Government briefs Buddhist prelates on Thailand talks.

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 12:47 GMT]
The Constitutional Affairs Minister Monday briefed the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters the outcome of the second round of peace talks held between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Thailand last week.
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Japanese special envoy’s visit highlights interest

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 November 2002, 17:42 GMT]
‘Tamils and Muslims have lived peacefully for long in the east. Misunderstandings arose between the two communities after the Tamils started the armed struggle for the rights. But we now believe that these can be resolved through dialogue,' a delegation of Muslim religious and civil society leaders in Batticaloa told Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special envoy for peace building and rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka, who visited the eastern district Monday.
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Tamil poetry 'Towards the path of Peace' released in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 November 2002, 23:12 GMT]
A collection of Tamil poems titled 'Towards the path of Peace' and composed by Poet Sigandithasan was released in Trincomalee Saturday evening. "No one can benefit by derailing the peace process now being taken forward," said the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan addressing the event.
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Long term political matters on Talks agenda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 November 2002, 13:58 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), at the conclusion of the second meeting of the first round of peace talks held in Thailand, agreed to set up a joint task force (JTF) to identify immediate humanitarian and rehabilitation needs of north east, work towards military de-escalation and to look at political questions at the heart of two decades of war. The JTF is first tasked to prepare for a political-level meeting of key government s to take place in Norway on 25 November.
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Assessing progress of Chemmani investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 18:42 GMT]
Amnesty International said in 1997 that as many as 600 people who "disappeared" in the Jaffna peninsula after the Sri Lankan Army moved into the area in 1996, "died under torture or been deliberately killed." A soldier involved in the crimes alleged that Chemmani was where bodies of those disappeared were clandestinely buried. However, the Chemmani mass grave investigation has become a victim of the judicial limbo common in Sri Lanka when powerful interests are implicated. Ethnic politics and the fallout of an active war have also contributed to the lack of forward movement in the case.
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Colombo’s CFA obligations list remains long

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 15:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military occupies 216 temples and churches and at least 45 schools in Jaffna. In scores of other schools and places of worship in the northern peninsula the Sri Lankan armed forces have vacated only buildings but are camped in or around the same locations. The Sri Lankan government agreed to pull out its armed forces from schools and places of worship in the island’s Northeastern province when it signed a ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers in February 2002.
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