Buddhist monks protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 August 2001, 19:47 GMT]
More than two thousand Buddhist monks demonstrated at the old Town Hall in Colombo Tuesday demanding that the government cancel the referendum. The monks are opposed to granting regional autonomy to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Buddhist organisations say that referendum would pave the way for Tamil self rule and separation.
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Opposition urges checks on referendum rigging

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 21:16 GMT]
Opposition parties Monday urged the Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections to take steps to stop rigging at the referendum on 21 August. Leaders of the United National Party, the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, the Tamil United Liberation Front and the Sihala Urumaya met the Coomissioner of elections Monday morning for discussions about conducting the referendum in a free and fair manner.
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Army, Police search TELO office

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 18:32 GMT]
The offices of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya was searched by the Sri Lanka army and Police Monday, ahead of the public meeting by the Alliance of Eleven Tamil parties Wednesday in the border town. Soldiers and Policemen dug the floor of the office in several places, a local TELO official said.
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Tamil coalition to campaign against referendum

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 17:22 GMT]
A coalition of 11 Tamil and Muslim political parties Monday decided to campaign against the August 21 referendum for a new constitution. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Democratic Workers Congress Party, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), People's Liberation Organisation Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Muslim United Liberation Front (MULF), Democratic Worker's Congress were among the parties that participated in the meeting held in Colombo Tuesday.
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Base may displace thousands

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 16:38 GMT]
Following the establishment of a new Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) camp in the village of Varothiar Nagar, about six km north of Trincomalee town Sunday, about two thousand Tamil people living there face imminent displacement for the third time in their life.
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TELO-EPRLF clashes lead to SLA's search of camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 August 2001, 16:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Sunday searched eight camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya town and its suburbs, said Suthan, local leader of TELO in Vavuniya. He said that no reason was given for the search. The troops also searched two camps of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Front (Perumal's faction) (EPRLF).
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TULF calls for cancellation of referendum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 August 2001, 14:51 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has appealed to the President Chandrika Kumaratunge to cancel the August 21 referendum and reconvene the prorogued parliament. "In the event of the proclamation calling for the referendum not being revoked the TULF has decided unanimously to vote against the referendum", said in a statement issued Sunday evening by the Secretary General and the Senior Vice President of the party Messrs R.Sampanthan and V.Anandasangaree respectively.
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"Stop arms, promote peace", MP tells US officials

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 23:09 GMT]
"The war in Sri Lanka is escalating because countries that say that there should be a political solution to the island's ethnic conflict are providing arms and money to the government here. Some are even training the Sri Lankan army troops. These governments should stop giving military aid to Sri Lanka and exert pressure on it to seek a negotiated settlement to the problem", said Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP for the Vanni and the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, speaking to US embassy officials who called on him Friday at his official in Colombo.
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PA in fix over ally's demands

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 17:30 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a major constituent party of the Peoples' Alliance, told Tamilnet Friday it is awaiting the President's response to its two demands that "that Sri Lankan citizenship be granted to four hundred thousand Tamils in the island's plantation sector and that sixteen electorates should be carved out for them". The party's leader Mr. Arumugam Thondaman said that the CWC would not support the referendum if the PA does not meet its demands.
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TULF branches call on Tamils to oppose referendum

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 16:01 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Friday decided to request the Tamil people to vote against the August 21 referendum "to register their protest to the People's Government as it has failed to solve the ethnic problem during its seven year rule". A resolution to this effect was unanimously adopted at the committee meeting of the TULF district branch Friday with Batticaloa parliamentarian Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham in the chair.
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Sinhala nationalist party to support referendum

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 15:33 GMT]
The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), a constituent party of the ruling People's Alliance, decided to extend its "fullest support" to the government for the 21 August referendum following a pledge by the Sri Lankan President that the draft constitution withdrawn last year will not be reintroduced. A unanimous decision to this effect was taken at a meeting attended by MEP parliamentarians, provincial councillors and members of local authorities held Friday.
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Judgement on referendum set for Aug. 10

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 August 2001, 22:43 GMT]
The arguments for and against the cancellation of the referendum were heard by for the third day by the Sri Lanka's Appeal Court Thursday. The court said that judgment will be given on 10 August.
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Batticaloa workers said vulnerable to arrest, detention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 August 2001, 15:50 GMT]
Ninety-three civilians in Batticaloa district arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces from January to 31 July this year are still in detention, according to Human Rights Commission officials in the eastern town Wednesday. Sixty-nine were arrested in Batticloa and twenty-four in other districts; the whereabouts of three persons arrested in Batticaloa is still not known, they said. Relatives said that the three have been presumed missing. Meanwhile Police sources in Colombo said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested 20 Tamils so far in connection with the attack on the Katunayaka Sri Lanka Air Force base and international airport on 24 July.
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World Teachers urge President to expedite peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 August 2001, 15:16 GMT]
The World Teachers' Conference held under the auspices of the Education International (EI) at Jimstil City in Thailand, unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the Sri Lankan President to "expedite the Norwegian brokered peace process to find a lasting political solution to the ethnic problem." Over 2000 delegates from 150 countries representing 310 teachers' trade unions in the world attended the conference, according to Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) who returned home from Thailand Tuesday evening.
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Vavuniya pilgrim and child detained by Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 July 2001, 21:01 GMT]
A Hindu pilgrim and his five year old child who were on their way to Kathirgamam were arrested and detained by the Police on 27 July at Nittambuwa, relatives told the Human Rights Commission office in Vavuniya Tuesday. Kathirgamam (Kataragama in Sinhala) is a pilgrimage centre in the in Sri Lankaís southern province. The shrine of the god Murugan here draws thousands of Tamil and Sinhala devotees.
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Tamil Congress to oppose Chandrika, TULF divided

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 July 2001, 20:50 GMT]
The All Ceylon Tamil Congress Monday rejected the invitation by the Sri Lankan President to discuss the political situation and said that it would categorically oppose the referendum for a new constitution scheduled to be held on 21 August. In a letter to the Sri Lankan President, the party leader Mr. Appappillai Vinyagamoorthy said that changing the constitution is futile when the Parliament has been suspended and democracy has been suppressed.
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CWC undecided on Referendum

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 21:42 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a constituent party in the ruling People's Alliance is to make a decision on the proposed referendum after meeting President Chandrika Kumaratunge next Monday, a leading member of the CWC said. He made this announcement soon after a delegation from the CWC, headed by Mr. Arumugam Thondaman, met with the President Friday morning.
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'Tigers should fight on until liberation'- TULF MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 19:10 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers are fighting for the freedom of the Tamil people. They should continue their armed struggle until the Tamil people are liberated," said Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil United Liberation Front MP for Jaffna, addressing a meeting by the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya Friday to commemorate its leaders who were massacred in the Welikada jail in Colombo in July 1983.
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Tigers attack Weli Oya FDL -radio

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 17:36 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its night news broadcast that the Liberation Tigers attacked and destroyed the Forward Defence Lines of the Sri Lanka army between Mankindi Malai and Akkarai Weli in the Weli Oya region in the early hours of Friday morning around 2.30 a.m. The radio said ten bunkers on the FDL were overrun by Tiger troops and that four SLA soldiers were killed.
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Vanni schools make do with fewer teachers

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 15:03 GMT]
There are only 2079 teachers to teach 86177 school children in the Vanni, according to officials of the Northeast Provincial Ministry of Education. “The shortage is more than 52 percent. There should be at least 4020 teachers for this number of children as stipulated by the Ministry of Education. The actual shortage is much higher when we take into account the number that is at Teachers’ Training Colleges,” an official said. “This puts tremendous pressure on children and teachers alike as the education system in the Vanni is struggling hard to survive under the economic embargo,” he added.
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