"Distorted" history protest prompts investigation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 February 1999, 18:23 GMT]
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has called for a full report from the National Institute of Education into allegation made by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) that the Year 6 Tamil text book on Social Studies consists of articles distorting the history of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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Army limits Sivaraathiri festivals attendance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 February 1999, 16:00 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has allowed only one hundred devotees to attend the midnight Pooja of the Maha Sivaraathiri festival at the Thiruketheeswaram temple in the Mannar district tomorrow.
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Devotees barred from attending Hindu festival

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 1999, 07:39 GMT]
Army Head Quarters in Palaly had informed the chief priest of the Keerimalai Naguleswarar temple yesterday that no devotees will be allowed to go to Keerimalai from other parts of the peninsula to observe religious rights on Sunday the Mahasivarathri day.
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LTTE posters lampoon paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 1999, 16:16 GMT]
The Batticaloa-Amparai section of the Liberation Tigers' political wing put up large printed posters in the Batticaloa district this morning. Posters appeared in Sri Lankan Army (SLA) controlled towns, including Valaichenai and Eravur, and areas in the northern part of the district.
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UNP MPs in walkout

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 1999, 13:15 GMT]
Forty members of Parliament of Sri Lanka's main opposition party walked out of the legislature this afternoon protesting against the vote rigging and violence in the north-western province polls last month.
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Chemmani graves to be exhumed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 1999, 10:13 GMT]
The alleged mass graves at Chemmani in the northern Jaffna peninsula, where the bodies of hundreds of people who 'disappeared' in Sri Lankan military custody are said to be buried, is to be excavated, announced the Military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon at the cabinet press briefing held today in the Parliament committee room. Excavation will commence on March 5, he said.
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TELO funerals amid apprehension

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 1999, 08:10 GMT]
Most shops in Vavuniya were closed and few people were on the streets today fearing trouble as the TELO prepares for the funeral of its three cadres who were shot dead by the PLOTE on Monday, February 8. Few students turned up for classes in the town's schools.
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Religious leaders meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 1999, 22:01 GMT]
S.P.Thamilchelvan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers' political wing told a team of religious leaders visiting the Vanni today, that the importance of seeking peace should be impressed on the Sri Lankan government and its security forces, sources in the Vanni said.
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'Dismiss distorted history protest' - Buddhist monks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 1999, 19:34 GMT]
The Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education today called off the talks with the delegation of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union when a group of Buddhist monks met him at his office and exerted pressure to cancel that appointment and not to withdraw the controversial Year 6 Tamil text book published by the Publication Department of the Education and Higher Education Ministry this year.
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Teachers protest 'distorted history' in textbooks

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 1999, 17:38 GMT]
The 20,000 member-strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) is demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Year 6 Tamil text book for Enviormental Studies from the use of Tamil medium students as it consists of articles distorting the history of Tamils in the island.
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Three TELO cadres killed

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 1999, 14:43 GMT]
Three members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) were killed and another wounded when a van they were travelling in was attacked by unidentified gunmen around 7 p.m. today at Kururmankaadu, a suburb junction 2 km. west of Vavuniya town.
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Civilians warned against funding Tigers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 1999, 19:44 GMT]
The Jaffna Sri Lankan Security forces headquarters put out a press note this afternoon strictly warning civilians against affording assistance to the Liberation Tigers. The note which is in Tamil says that the LTTE intends to collect 10 million rupees in Jaffna and that the army is taking the necessary steps to prevent the Tigers from collecting this money.
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Valaichenai report lists civilian casualties

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 1999, 13:47 GMT]
Thirty five civilians, including five school children, were killed in the Koralaipattu Divisional Secretary's area by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) shelling and indiscriminate retaliatory fire in 1998 according to statistics gathered by Sri Lankan government officials. (The Valaichenai administrative unit is known as Koralaipattu)
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United States willing to facilitate peace

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 February 1999, 19:57 GMT]
The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Carl Inderfurth, had an informal discussion with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Opposition leader's office this morning from 11.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. said diplomatic sources.
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Wounded student dies at hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 February 1999, 11:35 GMT]
Christopher Chrishanthan, member of the PLOTE's student organisation, who was shot at by unidentified gunmen at Vairavapuliyankulam in Vavuniya yesterday died at the Anuradhapura hospital around midnight last night.
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Three Batticaloa civilians missing

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 22:53 GMT]
Three refugees who went to fish in the Kallichchai-Vadamunai reservoir, about 60 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa, on January 31 have gone missing said their families today.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 13:25 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army bans supply of flour to Vadamaradchi east; Police say investigations have revealed that persons detained at TELO's Jaffna camp are being beaten up and over 4500 shortage of Tamil medium teachers in the north-eastern schools.
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Independence day in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 00:40 GMT]
"Some are celebrating the independence day happily, some are observing it under constraint and others who abhor it are boycotting," said Mr. A.K Pathmanathan, the Government Agent for Batticaloa, addressing a small gathering at the district secretariat in the morning of February 4 at the function to celebrate Sri Lanka's 51st year of independence from British rule.
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Independence day in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 00:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Independence Day was observed at the Jaffna Kachcheri in the morning of February 4. The Government Agent (GA), Mr.S. Shanmuganathan hoisted the Sri Lankan national flag while a group of students from Vembadi Girls' School sang the national anthem.
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Para military groups clash in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 February 1999, 10:48 GMT]
Three persons were wounded when armed members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and the People's Liberation Organisation Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), para military groups operating with the Sri Lankan security forces, clashed in the northern town of Vavuniya, over a dispute on determining 'tax' on goods.
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