MP reads out raped woman's letter

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 17:03 GMT]
Speaking on the extension of the emergency in Parliament Thursday, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) MP for Batticaloa Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham read out a letter written to the Sri Lanka's National Human Rights Commission by a seventy year old woman of Neervely in Jaffna who was raped and robbed by Sri Lankan army personnel on May 31. The MP said that he was bringing the letter to the attention of the house as the matter had been suppressed under the censorship. Mr.Pararajasingham pointed out that about 1500 Tamil youth have been detained for more than four years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without trial.
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Policemen sentenced for forcing youth to marry

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 17:02 GMT]
The Batticaloa district judge Wednesday sentenced three Sri Lankan Policemen to six months rigorous imprisonment each on three counts and three months R.I on one count for abducting a youth and forcibly marrying him to a girl who had allegedly been made pregnant by one of their officers. The judge, J.Viswanathan, said that the court is not giving the Policemen suspended sentences in view of the increasing incidents of people being threatened by armed persons. The judge issued an arrest warrant on another Policeman involved in the case who is absconding.
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Ban precludes Indian role - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 12:09 GMT]
While asserting that India has an active role to play in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers' theoretician and chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham told the Deccan Herald newspaper that New Delhi cannot play that role so long as the LTTE remains a banned organization in India. "We recognise India's predominance in the region and we look forward to the time when it will lift the ban on our organization," he told the paper in an interview published Thursday, adding that the LTTE was seeking new relationship with India as a friendly ally.
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Unable to trace disappeared -HRC, AI

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 09:35 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Vavuniya has not been able to find the whereabouts of 17 people who have been reported 'missing' or arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces during the first six months of this year, said Mr.Sreetharan, the chairman of the Commission. He said HRC received 303 complaints during the period. Meanwhile human rights organisation, the Amnesty International (AI), issued a press release Wednesday expressing its concern over the safety of Thambiah Wijayakumar, 24, who was arrested on 22 June in Vavuniya.
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Ban on Jaffna paper lifted

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 July 2000, 21:25 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government lifted the ban on the Jaffna Tamil daily Uthayan Monday, a spokesman for the newspaper told TamilNet. The paper was sealed by the Sri Lankan army on 19 May under the emergency regulations. The Uthayan will resume publication tomorrow the spokesman said.
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SLA offensive repulsed -LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 July 2000, 08:48 GMT]
Tamil Tiger combat units have repulsed an offensive thrust by the Sri Lankan troops at Gajabapura in the Weli Oya sector of the Northern Sri Lanka yesterday, killing 15 soldiers, according to LTTE official sources in London.
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World Bank money for quarters not utilized

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2000, 19:22 GMT]
A high-powered World Bank team, now in Sri Lanka, told a delegation of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) that the money allocated by the WB for the construction of quarters for teachers serving in the war-torn areas in the northeast province have not been utilized by the authorities concerned.
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Eight youths arrested in Potkerni cordon and search

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2000, 19:20 GMT]
Eight Tamil youths were arrested during a cordon and search operation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Potkerni in Thampalakamam, about 13 km. south-west of Trincomalee according to residents from the area.
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Devolution proposals 'no basis for solution' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2000, 09:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Friday the Sri Lankan government's devolution proposals were unacceptable as the basis of a solution to the Tamil national question as it "failed to address the national aspirations of the Tamil people" and it was intended to "promote the majoritarian [Sinhala] interests."
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Monks call for political opposition to devolution package

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2000, 18:52 GMT]
A leading Buddhist monk, Venerable Maduluwe Sobitha Thera, appealed on Thursday to members of Parliament belonging to the two major Sinhala dominated political parties not to become traitors to their own community by supporting the devolution package prepared by their leaders.
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Complaint to World Bank on distortions in texts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2000, 12:19 GMT]
The recommendations submitted by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) to the Education Publications Department to eliminate distortion of facts from the Tamil medium textbooks to be printed and published next year, have been completely rejected by the authorities. A World Bank team was informed of this by a delegation of the CTTU on Wednesday.
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Drug shortage hits Vanni hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 June 2000, 15:47 GMT]
Hospitals in the Vanni region are experiencing shortage of drugs and other medical equipment as they are yet to receive the entire supply approved by the Defence Ministry, for the first quarter of this year, government officers and medical sources said. They said the remaining supplies for the hospitals are lying in Vavuniya, awaiting approval from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities.
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TELO cadres shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 June 2000, 15:44 GMT]
Two members of a pro-government group, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), were shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Kalladi, about 2 km. north of Batticaloa, around 3.45 p.m. Wednesday evening the police said.
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CTTU appeals to boycott Flag Week

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 05:16 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) has appealed to Tamil students and teachers not to contribute to the Flag Week scheduled to be held on June 26 by the National Youth Services Council throughout the island. The General Secretary of the CTTU, Mr.T.Mahasivam, in his appeal has pointed out that fifty percent of the money collected by the Flag Week is to be donated to the National Defense Fund of the Sri Lankan Government.
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Sri Lankan officials to recover seized boats

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 05:14 GMT]
A three member team of Sri Lankan government officials will leave to Madras, India on Wednesday to take over all boats and engines seized by the Indian authorities from Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, during the period between 1990-1991.
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Explosion injures child

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2000, 19:14 GMT]
Tharmalingam Vinodharan, a 10 year old child from Maravanpullo in the Thenmaradchi sector of Jaffna Peninsula, lost both hands below his wrists when an unidentified explosive detonated on Wednesday. He was admitted to the Mallavi hospital and later transferred to Vavuniya General Hospital for surgery, hospital sources said.
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LTTE not included - President

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2000, 10:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge Friday re-iterated her government's position that the Liberation Tigers would not be included in the proposed interim administration for the North and East. A press release by the government's Special Media Information Center said no decision had been made to include the LTTE "which is a terrorist organization" and blamed media reports for the confusion.
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Arrested PLOTE cadres remanded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2000, 17:51 GMT]
Six members of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), who were arrested after a shoot-out with the police in Vavuniya on Tuesday, were remanded till 26 June by the District Judge of Vavuniya, Mrs.K.Sivapathasunderam.
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5000 Jaffna refugees sheltered in Pooneryn

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2000, 14:56 GMT]
More than five thousand civilians displaced from the Thenmaradchi division of the Jaffna peninsula due to bombing and shelling have been housed in a transit camp in Pooneryn, international aid agency sources said Thursday. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross are providing limited emergency relief to the displaced civilians they said.
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Tigers release Elephant Pass video

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2000, 17:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have released a 40 minute long English language video documentary of their assault on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Elephant Pass, which they overran on April 22, the Tamileela vanoli, the commercial service of the Voice of Tigers (VoT) said Wednesday.
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