NUA rigs, clashes with UNP in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 12:39 GMT]
At least fourteen people were wounded and three vehicles smashed up in clashes between the National Unity Alliance (NUA), the multi-ethnic front of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and the United National Party (UNP) Tuesday in the Muslim towns of Kattankudy and Eravur in Batticaloa.
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PA accused of rigging, thuggery in hills

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 09:23 GMT]
Independent polls observers reported widespread rigging by thugs and armed persons working for two powerful People's Alliance (PA) politicians in several parts of central province Tuesday morning. The United National Party charged that armed PA groups had blocked its polling agents from reaching their polling centres in Hanguranketha in the electoral district of Nuwara Eliya.
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EPDP abducts UNP polling agents

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 06:29 GMT]
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the chief Tamil ally of the People's Alliance, abducted 19 polling agents of the United National Party (UNP) at Kayts in Jaffna while they were on their way to polling booths in the island.
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Rigging reported amidst shelling

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 04:26 GMT]
Residents from the Jaffna town suburbs of Madathady, Paashaiyoor and Gurunagar began leaving their homes towards safer areas as the artillery duels between the Sri Lanka army and the Liberation Tigers that began in the early hours of the morning Tuesday intensified. The Liberation Tigers control the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the Jaffna town. Meanwhile, residents said that Tamil groups working with the Sri Lanka army are issuing illegally acquired polling cards to their supporters for voter impersonation.
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Rigging feared in Jaffna 'cluster booths'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:39 GMT]
Jaffna goes to polls tomorrow amidst fears of widespread rigging. Officials at the Jaffna district secretariat said that voter turn out is expected to be low mainly due to the fighting between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan army in the southern sector of the peninsula.
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No franchise for Mullaithivu Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:10 GMT]
None of the Tamil voters in the Mullaithivu district will be able to vote in elections to Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament Tuesday 10 October. They have been precluded from the polls due to a decision by the Sri Lankan government not to have any polling booths in the district except one for 996 Sinhalese in Ibbanweva, a state backed settlement in the southern corner of Mullaithivu. "This is tantamount to denying them the exercise of their sovereignty as Sri Lankan citizens through the franchise or, in real terms, disfranchising them" said a political analyst in Colombo Monday asked to comment on the Mullaithivu situation.
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NUA Batticaloa list challenge dismissed

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 15:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Court of Appeal Monday dismissed an application challenging the National Unity Alliance (NUA) nomination for the Batticaloa district. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) candidate, Mr.N.Indrakumar, filed a writ application requesting the court to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Commissioner of Elections and the Returning Officer to reject the nomination paper of the NUA. Justice Asoka de Silva made this order upholding the preliminary objections raised by the counsel for the respondents.
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Protest shuts down Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 13:25 GMT]
Shops, schools and government offices were closed and streets were almost deserted in Batticaloa town Monday in response to a call by a student organisation protesting against the activities of anti-Tamil forces and opportunists.
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Don't vote PA or UNP in Ampara - TULF

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2000, 18:45 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has appealed to the Tamil voters of the Digamadulla (Ampara) electoral district not to cast their votes to the People's Alliance (PA) or the United National Party (UNP) at the forthcoming general election.
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Impartial inquiry into civilian massacre - TULF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2000, 19:05 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has appealed to the Defense Secretary to hold an impartial inquiry into the killings of seven Tamil civilians, including a woman at Poonagar in the Ichchilampathai division of the Muttur area, south of Trincomalee, on Monday.
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Grenade attacks in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2000, 09:23 GMT]
Three members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), a pro-government ex-militant group were seriously wounded in a grenade attack in Jaffna. The attack took place between Nachchimarakoviladi and Poonarimarathady on the Jaffna-Kankesanthurai road, about 4 km. off north of Jaffna town around 12.30 p.m. Thursday.
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Civilians massacre in Trinco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2000, 16:26 GMT]
Reports are emerging from Eastern Trincomalee about a massacre of seven Tamil civilians, including a woman by members of Home Guards, a militia group operating with the Sri Lankan security forces, at Poomaraththadichenai, a remote hamlet in Mutur, on Monday evening.
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Demonstrators attack TULF office

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2000, 15:04 GMT]
A group of persons said to have been members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) Tuesday afternoon staged a one hour demonstration in front of the Jaffna office of the Tamil United Liberation Front, from 12.30 pm.
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Dozens killed in blasts

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2000, 13:54 GMT]
At least 20 people including a candidate of the ruling People's Alliance (PA) for the Trincomalee electorate were killed Monday at 6.30 p.m. in a bomb blast at an election meeting at the Cultural Centre of Mutur, Police said. Forty-five people, including 7 policemen were wounded. The candidate Mohammed Lathif Faithullah was the Officer in Charge of the Police Intelligent service in Trincomalee district, said sources.
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Furore over peace talks letters

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2000, 00:35 GMT]
(News Feature) The letters exchanged between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers during the 1995 peace talks have become an unexpected election issue in the run up to the island's forthcoming Parliamentary polls. The main opposition, the United National Party (UNP), has seized on the hitherto unpublicised letters as evidence the government had not informed the Sri Lankan public about its negotiations with the Tigers, forcing the government to respond with a counter-campaign.
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Tigers move towards SLA's Thenmaradchi MSR

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2000, 12:30 GMT]
Battle units of the Liberation Tigers, having overwhelmed Sri Lanka Army positions on the supply route linking the SLA garrison in Nagar Kovil with the main military base in Eluthumadduval, have crossed the road in the direction of the general area between Mirusuvil and Varani, civilians who fled the war zone Saturday told TamilNet. The Sri Lanka army Saturday allowed about 1500 civilians fleeing the war zone in Jaffna's southern sector to leave Thenmaradchi according to TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent.
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Tigers interdict Kilali supply route

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2000, 16:23 GMT]
The supply route to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Sri Lanka Navy base at Kilali from Eluthumadduval is unusable due to the fighting in the area sources in Jaffna said Thursday night. A Sri Lanka army official in Jaffna, however, said that Kilali is now linked to the A9 highway by an alternative road from Mirusuvil; and that the army and the SLN's Special Boat Squadron (SBS) are resisting assaults by the troops of the Liberation Tigers on their positions at Kilali.
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Tigers launch Unceasing Waves 4

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2000, 17:01 GMT]
Over 150 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have been killed and 500 wounded in heavy fighting since the LTTE launched Operation Unceasing Waves 4 against SLA forces in the Killali-Muhamalai-Nagar Kovil axis Tuesday night, the organization said in a statement from its London offices Wednesday. LTTE fighters have advanced 3kms into SLA-held territory and are poised to attack SLA bases complexes at Kilali and Eluthumadduval, the statement said, adding nine Tigers have also been killed. Supply lines to the SLA base at Nagar Koil have been cut off, the Tigers said.
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Unitary state serious impediment - TULF

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2000, 02:06 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in its election manifesto released Sunday said "the unitary character of the [Sri Lankan] state continued to be a serious impediment to the effective sharing of power" and that "what has been now proposed cannot be an effective or final solution to the Tamil question." The party also called for the government to negotiate with the Liberation Tigers with third party mediation. It also said it had "effectively contributed to sustaining their interests and involvement" of the international community in Sri Lanka.
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"We pleaded but Navy kept firing"- survivor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2000, 12:53 GMT]
"We were fishing after a heavy thunder shower when about ten Sri Lanka Navy boats approached and opened fire on us. We screamed that we were fishermen and pleaded with them to stop shooting. But the Navy surrounded our boats and continued to fire on us. So we jumped in the sea to save our lives" said Punchi Singho, a Sinhala fishermen who survived the SLN attack in the Trincomalee bay Friday night. Two Sinhala fishermen who were caught in the attack are still missing, Police sources in the eastern port town said.
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