Confession faked says lawyer

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 1999, 22:21 GMT]
Copies of a statement taken from a Tamil youth detained under Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which were submitted in Colombo High court today by the prosecution were found to contain many details which were not in the original.
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Students protest over shortage of teachers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 1999, 20:27 GMT]
Students of the College of Education at Patana in the hill country, who are protesting against the school´s management for dismissing 8 of their colleagues, have been ordered to vacate the college hostel by tomorrow morning by the Senior Superintendent of Police in Nuwara Eliya, sources said.
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4000 demonstrate in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 1999, 18:32 GMT]
Over 4000 school children demonstrated Saturday in Paduvankarai, the western hinterland of the Batticaloa district, demanding that the Sri Lankan Government, among other things, stop the war and lift the economic embargo on this region.
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Radio Veritas denies VoT link report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 1999, 14:54 GMT]
Officials of Radio Veritas of the Philippines categorically denied on Monday that their service had any arrangement with the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio, as was reported by TamilNet on May 23, 1999. TamilNet accepted the report was incorrect and published a correction today.
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Veritas listeners' club formed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 1999, 13:00 GMT]
(CORRECTION) On May 23, 1999 TamilNet reported that the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio was to co-ordinate with Radio Veritas of the Philippines. This report was incorrect and resulted from an error in translation. The VoT report actually stated that a Radio Veritas Listeners club had been formed in the Vanni. A corrected version follows.
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Catholics denied burial rights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 1999, 07:40 GMT]
Burial in the cemetery adjoining the Catholic church in Vakarai, Batticaloa district has been banned by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) which has its camp in the central section of the village, said sources. This has forced the Catholic population to use the cemetery traditionally used by the Hindus.
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Procession and rally in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 1999, 11:32 GMT]
The EPRLF general secretary, Mr. Suresh Premachandran, led a procession in Vavuniya today that started from the Sinthamani Pillayar Kovil and ended at the Urban Council ground where a public meeting was held. The Sri Lankan army and police provided security for the procession and the public meeting was addressed by the EPRLF Vavuniya district secretary, Mr.N. Sivasakthi Ananthan.
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Military clearance only obstacle to resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 1999, 07:26 GMT]
The consensus amongst the 1067 Tamil families who have been crammed into four refugee camps in the village of Thirukovil, Ampara, for the past nine years is that they are unwilling to stay in their damaged cadgan huts any longer and want to move back to their homes immediately.
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Torture prevails despite reforms - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 1999, 15:01 GMT]
In a news release published today titled, " Torture prevails despite reforms", the human rights pressure group Amnesty International said that "despite several positive steps in recent years, torture continues to mar Sri Lanka's human rights record."
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Three remaining Pachchilaippalli councillors resign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 1999, 13:04 GMT]
The three remaining members of the Pachchilaippalli Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) in the Jaffna Peninsula, representing the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), resigned from their positions today.
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Arrested students released on bail

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 1999, 16:12 GMT]
The Kalmunai Police have arrested three Tamil youths on their way to Batticaloa from the upcountry areas, said residents. The police produced them before the Kalmunai District Judge, Mr.Anton Balasingham.
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Thirukovil refugees ask to go home

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 1999, 16:10 GMT]
One thousand and sixty seven Tamil families who for the past nine years have been living in four refugee camps in the Thirukovil division of the Amparai district have asked the authorities to take immediate steps to resettle them in their own villages.
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Razeek buried with military honours

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 1999, 19:31 GMT]
Former chief minister of the defunct North East provincial council, Annamalai Varatharajaperumal, paid his last respects today to the body of Razeek group leader, Mr.Ganeshmoorthy, who was killed in a bomb attack yesterday.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 1999, 14:07 GMT]
More than a thousand of the students studying at Mulankaavil High School in Kilinochchi have suffered loss or injury because of the war; Harassment of Thiraikerni villagers investigated and World Food Program feeds refugees.
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Razeek killed in blast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 1999, 09:29 GMT]
P.Ganeshmoorthy, also known as Razeek, leader of the military wing of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and one of his assistants, Chandran Jeyakumar were killed in a bomb explosion at about 1.05 p.m. today. A civilian, Ali Mohamed Thahir of Eravur was also killed, along with the attacker.
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Assurances for better Tamil textbooks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 1999, 19:54 GMT]
The Director General of the National Institute of Education, Professor Lakshman Jayatilake, has assured a delegation from the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) that Tamil speaking representatives would be included in the Text Book Committee from the year 2001.
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MP criticises discriminatory salary scales

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 1999, 19:48 GMT]
The Ministry of Cultural and Religious Affairs has a different salary scale for its Sinhala and Tamil medium cultural officers, said Mr. Sambanthan, member of Parliament for the Trincomalee district and General Secretary for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in a letter sent to the Minister of Cultural and Religious Affairs, Mr Lakshman Jeyakody.
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Tamils denied justice in Sri Lanka - JVP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 1999, 03:20 GMT]
"We accept that Tamils face problems in Sri Lanka. Tamils have received unequal treatment from successive Sri Lankan Governments. They have been denied social justice. Due to these injustices Tamils are undergoing immense hardships now," said Tilvin de Silva, the General Secretary of Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), while addressing the foreign correspondents at the Galle Face Green Hotel yesterday.
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Forced labour said exacerbating poverty

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 May 1999, 16:42 GMT]
"My family is dependent on my day-to-day earnings. My children will stave if I do not work even for a day", said a refugee who was among a group of men who were compelled by the Sri Lanka Army to clean its camp at Valaichenai last week.
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Regional, central Education authorities in dispute

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 May 1999, 16:35 GMT]
Although the World Bank has given permission to fill about 4,500 vacancies for Tamil medium teachers in the north east province, senior officials of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Colombo are taking steps to call for applications at national level and not only at provincial level, ministry sources said.
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