Batticaloa journalists protest against attack on Thinakathir

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 August 2002, 08:50 GMT]
Journalists in Batticaloa friday afternoon staged a half an hour picketing blocking the traffic across the main road in front of the newspaper office. The picketing was organised by the East Lanka Journalists Association, condemning the attack on Thinakathir newspaper office thursday night.
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Gang ransacks office of Batticaloa daily

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 August 2002, 03:57 GMT]
The office of Thinakkathir, the Tamil daily paper published in Batticaloa, was ransacked by a gang Thursday night. A gang of more than five had forcibly entered the paper office around 11 p.m. tied up and blindfolded the staff and took away office equipment, Thinakkathir editor Mr. Kodeeswaran Rushangan told TamilNet. Two journalists were wounded in an attack on the office in Batticaloa town's high security zone on 26 December 2001.
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Mylanthanai massacre commemorated

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 August 2002, 00:08 GMT]
The tenth anniversary of the massacre by Sri Lankan troops of thirty nine men, women and children in the eastern village of Mylanthanai was marked Thursday by survivors who have been living in Kalmadu refugee camp. Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Army held a remembrance ceremony for the Army and Navy officers, whose deaths in a landmine attack on August 8, 1992, triggered the retaliatory massacre.
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Valaichchenai refugees starve without relief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 19:53 GMT]
More than four hundred families living at Valaichchenai refugee camp in the Batticaloa district undergo untold hardships in running their day-to-day lives, as they have not been provided with dry rations for the last two months.
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Thadchchanamadu murder suspects identified

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 19:48 GMT]
All the eleven suspects in the Thadchanamadu murder case were identified Wednesday before the Mannar acting Magistrate Mr.S.A.Johnthasan. All the fifteen witnesses who were present in the court identified the accused when the identification parade was held in five. The suspects were produced under heavy security.
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Moragoda to visit Thenmaradchchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 17:50 GMT]
A senior minister in the United National Front government is to visit Thenmaradchchi area in Jaffna district Saturday to inquire into complaints that members of state armed forces are removing palmyra trees cut down in the north to south of the country.
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Attorney General against political pressure

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 17:50 GMT]
The Attorney General Wednesday announced that the suspects who have been detained under the Prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) would be released only if there was no substantial evidence against them. The AG Mr.K.C.Kamasabeyson has decided not to give into political pressure in this regard, the state and private radio and TV reported Wednesday night.
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Japanese Ambassador meets Tamilselvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 18:48 GMT]
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sciichiro 0tsuka, met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, in the Vanni on Tuesday. Mr. Seiichiro Otsuka was accompanied by Ms. Noriko Iseki, First Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Mr. S.A.S. Devotta, Senior Assistant for Political Affairs.
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Japanese Ambassador visits Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 11:47 GMT]
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sciichiro 0tsuka, visited Vavuniya Monday and reviewed resettlement now being undertaken in the northern district. The Ambassador's visit was intended to study how his government could assist about nine thousand villagers who have been resettled in more than twenty villages in the Nedunkerny divisional secretariat area, Vavuniya Government Agent, K. Ganesh, said.
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NE District Unions in new Consortium

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 01:56 GMT]
A new organisation, the Consortium of North East Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies Unions (TCCS) has been formed with its headquarters in Trincomalee. Eight district member unions of the NorthEast province which had been aligned with the Sri Lanka Federation of TCCS Ltd with its headquarters in Colombo became members of the TCCS.
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Six arrested entering Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 17:09 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam police arrested six people who entered LTTE-held Vanni without permission in two separate incidents on August 4, Tamil press reports said Monday. Among those arrested were three weapon-carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who attempted to infiltrate into LTTE-held areas.
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Trinco-Batticaloa highway to reopen

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 12:47 GMT]
The A15 highway between Batticaloa and Trincomalee is to be reopened for public use following discussions between representatives of the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers, Tamil press reports said Monday. A significant portion of the 132 km long road is under the control of the LTTE.
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TNA to coordinate with LTTE offices

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 August 2002, 21:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Sunday that it would exert pressure on the United National Front (UNF) government to fully implement the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. "We will inform foreign envoys in Colombo the urgent need for the full implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement by the UNF government," TNA parliamentarians told reporters.
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TNA MP criticises Jaffna trade exhibition

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 August 2002, 17:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.M.K.Sivajilingam Saturday said that the Jaffna business community has considered holding trade exhibition at this juncture a mockery when it has not been compensated adequately for the loss due to the war.The Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugee Affairs Minister Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene declared open the three-day trade exhibition at Jaffna Central College Saturday afternoon.
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IDPs to be resettled in Thiriyai village

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 August 2002, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Ports Development and Eastern Regional Development Minister Rauff Hakeem Saturday handed over a cheque for a sum of three and a half million rupees to the Government Agent, Trincomalee as a token gesture for the resettlement of five hundred displaced families in the village Thiriyai in the northern sector of the Trincomalee district. Presiding over a conference regarding the development of the Trincomalee district Saturday, Mr.Rauff Hakeem said his ministry would take steps to resettle another two thousand displaced families in the eastern district.
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Navy vacates three schools in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 August 2002, 14:56 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Friday handed over three government schools, whichthey had been occupying in the Trincomalee district, to the northeast provincial department of education. The handing over event took place at Iranakerni Government Tamil Mixed School hall, one of the three schools, Friday afternoon. The Contingent Commander of the Nilaveli SLN Jayantha de Silva handed over the documents related to the schools to the Trincomalee Zonal Director of Education Mr. K. Thilakaretnam. The other two schools vacated Friday are Thiriyai Tamil Maha Vidyalyam and Sakarapura Sinhala Vidyalyam.
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Meetings as troop relocation deadline is missed

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 August 2002, 00:32 GMT]
(News Feature) As the last of the stipulated deadlines for the Sri Lanka military to withdraw from civilian properties passed Thursday without the related terms of the government’s ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers being implemented, international monitors met with senior LTTE officers to discuss the truce while Tamil parliamentarians protested to the Prime Minister.
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Navy fires on fishing boat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 August 2002, 00:00 GMT]
Tamil fishermen were assaulted by Sri Lanka Navy personnel near Vettilaikerny and Kattaikkadulast on Friday, Tamil press reports said. A SLN Dvora gunboat also fired on their fishing boats, damaging one, the Uthayan newspaper reported Wednesday.
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Eleven remanded in Madhu killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 July 2002, 20:53 GMT]
The Vavuniya Magistrate M.Illancheliyan Wednesday ordered remand for eleven suspects, eight Sinhalese and three Tamils, in connection with the murder of three persons whose bodies were recovered on 25 July by the Tamileelam police in Thatchanamaruthamadhu near the Madhu shrine.
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Meeting lends ‘fresh cause for optimism’ - paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 July 2002, 15:06 GMT]
In the wake of the landmark meeting Saturday between Sri Lankan cabinet Minister Milinda Moragoda and the Liberation Tigers’ chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, prospects of a meeting later this year between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan have been raised, a Tamil expatriate newspaper reported this week.
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