Tigers say ready to open A9 highway as scheduled

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2002, 06:09 GMT]
In a statement issued in the Vanni Sunday, the political wing of the Liberation Tigers said that the A9 highway and the Uyilankulam road in Mannar would be opened on Friday 15 February. The two roads would be the only access arteries to the LTTE held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped a harsh economic embargo for more than a decade. The Vavuniya GA told TamilNet last week that the district secretariat was ready for opening the A9 on 15 February.
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Mined rice fields cause hunger -survey

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:52 GMT]
In a survey conducted the North East Community Restoration and Development Project ( NECORD ) which is funded by the Asian Development Bank, it has been found that "the ban on fishing and mined agricultural lands within security zones in the northeast province have made it impossible for farmers and fishermen to pursue their occupations with a consequent deterioration in living conditions including vulnerability to hunger and disease".
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Jaffna supply snag despite A9 euphoria

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:49 GMT]
The Pt. Pedro jetty in Jaffna will now operate till 10 p.m. Sri Lankan government officials in the north told TamilNet Sunday. The move would increase the quantum of supplies that can be unloaded from ships, they said. But shippers are reluctant to hire additional vessels to increase supplies to the peninsula as the A9, the main highway to Jaffna, is expected to reopen after the Liberation Tigers and Colombo sign the Memorandum of Understanding on a ceasefire, according to a senior official. An entry point on the highway for civilian traffic into the Vanni is scheduled to open on 15 February at Vilakkuvaiththa Kulam, 18 kilometres north of Vavuniya.
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CID to expedite Nimalarajan, Kumar murder investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:44 GMT]
The Attorney General (AG) has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police to expedite the investigations into the murders of Mr.Maylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna based Tamil journalist and Mr.Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, legal sources said. The Attorney General would shortly review the progress of the investigations so far conducted by the CID in this regard, the sources said.
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Tamil festival spurs war ravaged district

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 February 2002, 22:46 GMT]

The festival's cultural programs began with traditional Naathaswaram music. (Please click on the image for larger photo)

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Tamil festival for self-determination on 'pearl coast'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 19:28 GMT]
More than twenty thousand, including Muslims, thronged the seaside village of Mutharipputhurai in Mannar Thursday for the 'Tamil is our Being' (Thamil Engal Uyir) celebration. The organisers of the event made a declaration that the homeland of the Tamils and their right to determination should be recognised; that the Liberation Tigers should be accepted as the sole representatives of the Tamils and that the ban on the LTTE should be removed; that the Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed and all Tamil political prisoners held under this draconian law should be released.
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"Vanni woes continue" -CTTU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 14:23 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) said Thursday that "the Vanni intelligentsia feel that the United National Front government has failed to take concrete steps in taking forward the peace initiative." Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the CTTU told TamilNet that "the Vanni people still live in misery and are eagerly awaiting to enjoy the benefits of the humanitarian assistance programme which was announced by the United National Front government last month."
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Kumaratunga ally denounces UNF-LTTE peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 February 2002, 16:04 GMT]
The radical Sinhala nationalist - socialist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a key ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, vowed Wednesday to fight Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government if it "dared to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers".
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LTTE rejects President's child-recruitment charge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2002, 19:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday categorically denied allegations by Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunga that the organisation is engaged in the forcible recruiting of children for war effort under the guise of ceasefire. When contacted by TamilNet regarding the President's statement issued Tuesday, the LTTE's political advisor and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, rejected the accusation and said Kumaratunga was attempting create controversy and apprehensions with the intention of undermining the ongoing Norwegian peace initiative.
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45,685 sick civilians treated by LTTE - radio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2002, 13:33 GMT]
Mobile medical units of the Liberation Tigers treated 45,685 civilians in the Vanni last year, according to a Voice of Tigers report this week. The civilians were mainly from the remote parts of the region, with little access to the mobile medical services of the ICRC. The largest percentage of these patients was treated for anaemia, the report said. Malnutrition and anaemia are rampant among children and adults in Vanni, induced by the decade long embargo clamped on the region by successive governments in Colombo and the acute shortage of food, medicines and drugs, including aspirin.
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People nab soldier for molesting girl

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 19:12 GMT]
The people of Orr's Hill, a suburb in Trincomalee town nabbed a soldier of the Sri Lanka Army Monday evening around 4.45 when he allegedly attempted to molest a seven year old Tamil girl. The other two soldiers of the SLA who accompanied the suspect fled from the scene when the people of the area came to the rescue of the victim hearing her cries. The angry crowd later had tied the suspect soldier to a tree and sent word to the Trincomalee Police.
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Paramilitaries stirring communal tension through crimes - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 16:09 GMT]
Agent provocateurs under the guise of being members of the Liberation Tigers are engaged in criminal activities in the Batticaloa district in a bid to provoke communal tension and undermine the ongoing Norwegian peace efforts, the LTTE's political section for the Batticaloa and Amparai districts said Sunday. In a Tamil-language statement issued in the eastern districts, the LTTE said paramilitary groups working with the Sri Lanka armed forces were responsible for a string of thefts, forcible removal of property from Muslim homes and businesses and extortion. The LTTE appealed to all Tamil speaking people in the region to be united against such efforts to spread alarm.
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Fishermen hoist black flag for Independence Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 08:14 GMT]
Protesting fishermen who are urging Colombo to lift the restrictions and ban on fishing in the northern peninsula Monday flew black flags in the Jaffna District Secretariat. Jaffna’s Government Agent, Mr.K. Shanmuganathan, could not hoist the Sri Lankan national flag and hold the customary ceremony at the secretariat Monday to mark 54th anniversary of the island’s independence from British rule because of the fishermen’s protest, officials said.
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Covert moves to scuttle peace in east – Karikalan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 21:51 GMT]
“Corrupts elements in the Sri Lanka army and paramilitary groups operating with it are making covert attempts in the east to scuttle the peace negotiations between the Tigers and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe’s government”, said the deputy leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Karikalan, addressing a press conference Sunday in Kokkaddicholai, 14 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
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'I'll don the stripes if UNF peace fails' -Chandranehru

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 21:43 GMT]
"A river of blood will flow in this island if the United National Front government fails to make every effort to bring about peace. Why? Even I, Chandranehru, will wear the LTTE uniform and go to the battlefield. This is the last chance for Sri Lanka to solve the Tamil problem politically. The three communities of this country yearn for peace today.
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“Remove fishing ban , release PTA suspects" -TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 15:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance ( TNA ) Sunday appealed to President Chandrika Kumaratunge to exercise her wide power to release all Tamil political prisoners who have been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA ) under the general amnesty. The TNA further appealed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to take urgent steps to remove fishing ban in Jaffna district.
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TNA rally exhorts political prisoners' release

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 12:19 GMT]
"There will soon be a permanent ceasefire, normalcy might gradually be restored, we may even have freedom of movement in our land - but we must not let all these distract us from our goal and slacken our resolve to struggle on for our rights as a nation", said Mr. K. Thangavadivel, the Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, addressing a meeting at the conclusion of a 'Paatha Yaaththirai' (foot pilgrimage), Sunday from the southern and northern quarters of the eastern town urging Colombo to release Tamil political prisoners and lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers.
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‘Basket of humanitarian issues remain’ - PM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 February 2002, 21:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister last week acknowledged that more needed to be done to alleviate the considerable difficulties of the Tamils living in areas not controlled by the Sri Lanka Army, the state press reported Saturday. Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday that while food and essential items were reaching the people of Wanni there was yet “a basket of humanitarian issues that needs to be addressed by the government to alleviate the conditions of the Northern citizens,” the Daily News reported.
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War strategy flop costs thousands their hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 February 2002, 15:09 GMT]
The bombed out shell of the Kilinochchi District hospital stands mute witness to a failed Sri Lanka army strategy. The hospital was the largest government medical facility in the Vanni until Sri Lanka Air Force jets destroyed it in bombing raids in early 1996. Dr.S.Vigneswaran, the District Medical Officer, says rebuilding the Kilinochchi hospital would cost more than 150 million rupees (approx- 1.6 million USD. 1 USD = 93 LKR). He now runs the hospital out of a small medical centre in the interior village of Akkarayan south of Kilinochchi.
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Tamil political prisoners fast for 'trial or release'

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 February 2002, 14:05 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners in scores of jails and detention centres across Sri Lanka began a protest fast Friday demanding that they be acquitted or be released as they are being held for extended periods without any legal proceedings being instituted against them in courts by the Attorney General's Department.
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