Defence Ministry says embargo eased

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2002, 20:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry said Wednesday that it would allow the transport of restricted amount of diesel, petrol, cement and steel bars to the areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North-East province effective January 15.
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LTTE leader calls for Norwegian engagement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2002, 12:08 GMT]
Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers has written to the Norwegian Prime Minister Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik, calling for Norway’s continuous engagement as the facilitator between the LTTE and the new Sri Lanka government to find a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict. In a press release, the LTTE said Wednesday that Mr. Pirapaharan also complimented the Royal Norwegian Government for its impartial and neutral approach in the facilitatory process. The statement also said a Norwegian delegation headed by Mr Helgeson, the Deputy Foreign Minister, will meet Mr Anton Balasingham, the official spokesman and chief negotiator for the LTTE in London on 4 January.
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Army tightens security in Mutur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2002, 09:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police have tightened security at sentry points at Kaddaiparichchan and Mahindapura and civilians were thoroughly searched before they were being allowed to enter government held region in the Trincomalee district, said sources.
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SLTMA slams military harassment of Thinakathir

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2001, 09:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Tamil Media Alliance Saturday protested to the Ministry of Mass Communication over the attack on Dharmaratnam Sivaram, a well known defence analyst and journalist, by "persons connected with the security forces." Mr. Sivaram, a Colombo-based contributor to TamilNet, suffered extensive injuries in the attack which occurred at the office of the Thinakathir newspapers in Batticaloa town late on Wednesday night.
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Ranil urged to disarm EPDP

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 December 2001, 19:57 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students' Union (JUSU) Friday requested the Prime Minister to take immediate steps to disarm all para military Tamil groups including the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in areas held by government troops. "The retention of arms by such para military groups, including EPDP constitutes imminent danger to Tamil civilians and journalists in the Jaffna district," the JUSU said in a memorandum sent Friday to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe.
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Ex MP files for annulment of elections in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 December 2001, 19:28 GMT]
A former United National Party parliamentarian Friday filed an election petition in the Court of Appeal, praying that the court declare the poll held on 5th December this year in the Batticaloa electoral district null and void, and to direct the Commissioner of Elections to take action to hold a re-poll as voters from areas held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were prevented from voting.
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Mutur East denied medical services

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 19:56 GMT]
No proper medical and health service has been provided to Tamil villages in Mutur east areas which are not controlled by Sri Lankan troops in the Trincomalee district, said a report issued Thursday by the Trincomalee regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCS).
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PM officially requests Norway's assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 19:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday officially requested the government of Norway to recommence its facilitator role with regards to bringing about negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr. Wickremasinghe made his request in a telephone conversation with the Norwegian Prime Minister Thursday morning, a press communiqué released by the Prime Minister's office in Colombo said.
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Senior Tamil Journalist assaulted

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 09:09 GMT]
Mr.D.Sivaram, a leading Tamil journalist and Mr.Wijetharan, of 'Thinakathir' editorial were wounded when they were attacked by unidentified men, around 10.30 p.m. Wednesday. The journalists were attacked by men armed with clubs who had arrived in a van to the Thinakathir office, a independent Tamil daily published in Batticaloa.
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LTTE official visits SLA held areas in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 December 2001, 13:05 GMT]
An official of the Liberation Tigers visited areas held by the Sri Lankan security forces in Batticaloa south Wednesday. 'Thurai', the official in charge of the LTTE's dissemination division for the Batticaloa and Ampara districts had discussions with an officer of the Special Task Force (STF) at the Paddiruppu Bridge, a main entry point 24 kilometres south of the eastern town, around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning before proceeding to visit Kaluwanchikudy town and the villages to its north with a group of fighters.
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PTA prisoners suffer prolonged detention in east

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 December 2001, 10:16 GMT]
Forty-one Tamil political prisoners have been languishing in the Batticaloa prison for many years with no solution in sight under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Mr. ‘Vellimalai’ Kirushnapillai, Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, told Tamilnet Wednesday. Their detention is unduly prolonged because the Batticaloa District Medical Officer is refusing to issue them medical legal certificates required by the courts to proceed with their cases, according to Mr. Vellimalai who visited the prisoners in the Batticaloa jail Tuesday.
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Missing youths' parents paralyse Jaffna Kachcheri

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2001, 15:25 GMT]
Protesting parents paralyse Jaffna District SecretariatThe Jaffna District Secretariat was stopped from functioning by more than a hundred parents of missing Tamil youth who sat across the entrance of the district secretariat from Monday early morning 6.30 to 4 p.m. in the afternoon, blocking government officials from entering the premises. The parents of the youth who went missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in 1997 in Jaffna sat in heavy monsoon shower, demanding that the Government Agent for Jaffna should get a reply from Colombo about the fate of their children in 20 days. The parents rejected an offer by the government to grant death certificates and compensation to 167 youth who went missing in 1997 after being arrested and detained by the Sri Lanka army. The death certificates claim that the youth were killed due to general violence.
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Trincomalee Tamils appeal to Kofi Annan

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2001, 13:40 GMT]
“ Successive Sri Lankan governments have repeatedly disregarded the request for peace talks put forward by the LTTE by adducing various motives while it continued the pernicious war against the Tamils by using all state resources. At the last parliamentary general elections, the entire Tamil community in the northeast province overwhelmingly supported the Tamil National Alliance which stood for accepting the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka”, states a memorandum sent Monday by community leaders, civil society groups NGOs and trade unions in Trincomalee to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with copies the United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Norway, Canada, Australia and member states of the European Union.
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TNA Vadamaradchi office attacked

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2001, 13:01 GMT]
A grenade was lobbed on the Tamil National Alliance office for the Vadamaradchi division of Jaffna Sunday night around 8.30. The office was damaged in the attack. The TNA’s chief organiser for the Vadamaradchi division, Mr. S. Aravindan told Tamilnet that he was the target of the grenade attack. He said that gunmen from the Eelam People’s Demoratic Party, a key coalition partner of the President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s defeated People’s Alliance, had lobbed the grenade. The TNA’s Vadamaradchi regional office is located in the Nelliyadi town.
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No security relaxation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 December 2001, 20:39 GMT]
Until the modalities of a proper cease-fire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are worked out, there will be no relaxation in checking at roadblocks and sentry points in the Trincomalee district. Roadblocks and sentry points would not be removed immediately, police sources said.
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Tamils, SLA mull truce implications

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2001, 13:03 GMT]
A "real" ceasefire will not come into effect until the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers negotiate and agree on "concrete modalities" of how it would be observed, military sources in Colombo said Saturday. The Sri Lankan security forces will desist from launching offensives and search operations during the cessation of hostilities declared Friday by the United National Front government, the sources added. A Sri Lanka army officer in the east said that the Tigers cannot enter areas controlled by the military with their personal weapons. "During the cessation of hostilities, we will fire only if we are provoked and we will take defensive action", the officer said.
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Canada refugee “at grave risk of torture” - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2001, 01:48 GMT]
Amnesty International, the human rights group, Friday urged its members to appeal to the Canadian government not to deport a recognised refugee, Manickavasagam Suresh, back to Sri Lanka as “he would be at grave risk of torture.” Noting that Suresh is alleged to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, Amnesty said it “has documented numerous incidences of the Sri Lankan security forces torturing people in their custody, particularly suspected LTTE members.”
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TNA urges Prime Minister to respect Tamils' verdict

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 20:17 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Friday appealed to the Prime Minister to respect the verdict of the Tamil voters in the Northeast province at the last parliamentary election. A TNA delegation Friday evening told the Prime Minister that "the Tamil voters in the Northeast have very substantially endorsed the policy enunciated in the election manifesto of the TNA, despite the numerous hardships, restrictions and denial imposed upon them even in respect of the exercise of their franchise. The TNA looks forward to the early commencement of the visible implementation of the policy envisaged in its manifesto".
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Colombo announces month long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 12:38 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Friday responded to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers by announcing a ceasefire from midnight 24 December to 24 January. The month long ceasefire declared by the LTTE also comes into effect from the midnight of 24 December. The United National Front government sources said that the ceasefire announcement was initially expected to be made Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s return from Delhi.
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PTA regulations not conducive for talks - Selvam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2001, 14:14 GMT]
“The United National Front government should take steps remove the Prevention of Terrorism Act and to release Tamil political prisoners if it wants to positively and constructively respond to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers and restore normalcy in the north and east”, Selvam Adaikalanathan MP in a statement Thursday welcoming the LTTE’s truce announcement. “We see the PTA as a serious obstacle to the peace process because the armed forces would remain empowered under its provisions to arrest and detain members of the LTTE even during the period of mutual truce”, he told Tamilnet. The Liberation Tigers were banned under the PTA after the Emergency lapsed in October when the People’s Alliance lost its majority in Parliament.
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