SLA ban hits fishermen

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 February 1999, 20:15 GMT]
More than 900 fishermen have been deprived of their livelihood due an SLA ban on inland fishing in the northernmost parts of the Batticaloa district. Their condition, according to the TamilNet correspondent who visited the affected areas this week, is particularly critical as they have been unable to fish during the prawn season.
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Sri Lankan Army detains Indian fishermen

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 February 1999, 20:13 GMT]
Five fishermen from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu who came ashore in their boat at Kankesanthurai (KKS) yesterday were detained by the Sri Lankan security forces.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 February 1999, 17:31 GMT]
A group calling itself 'Thamilar Padai' (The army of the Tamils) puts up hand bills in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna; Pt.Pedro Urban Council employee arrested.
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Rights group call to investigate atrocities

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 1999, 23:55 GMT]
The Forum for Human Dignity in Colombo has brought to the notice of the Anti-Harassment Committee several cases of disappearances and deaths in the Jaffna peninsula and the eastern province, FHD officials told TamilNet.
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Call for NORAD projects in all Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 1999, 23:48 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Coordinating Committee (DCC), which comprises all the top government officials, including the Government Agent (GA) who functions as its secretary, and members of Parliament of this eastern region unanimously passed a resolution today that the Norwegian government aid program for development and rehabilitation should be implemented without discrimination in all parts of Batticaloa.
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Jaffna youth’s body found

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 1999, 23:47 GMT]
A body of a youth identified as Sellathurai Puveenthiran, 25, was found near Perumal Kovil (temple), in Jaffna, 200 meters from a Sri Lankan Army camp this morning 6.30 a.m.
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Controversy over North Eastern elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 1999, 13:08 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) politburo member, Mr. Maavai Senathirajah, said that conditions in the North-eastern province are not conducive for the proper conduct of elections.
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Acute shortage of teachers in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 1999, 22:27 GMT]
There is an acute shortage of teachers in Kilinochchi district sources at the Department of Education said today. At least 1271 more teachers are needed, they said.
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Temple officials arrested over funds

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 1999, 22:08 GMT]
The President and Treasurer of the trustee board of the Periyathambiraan temple of Periyaneelaavanai were arrested this morning by a team of commandos from the Special Task Force camp in Kaaraitheevu, 45 kilometers south of Batticaloa.
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PLOTE cadre killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 1999, 11:54 GMT]
A PLOTE cadre, Subramaniam Thanabalasingham,32, was shot last night by unidentified gunmen, suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers, while he was returning home last night around 8.30 p.m. at Thirupperunthurai, a high security zone on the northern outskirts of the Batticaloa town.
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Massacre inquiry delay continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 January 1999, 19:45 GMT]
The inquiry into the Tampalakamam murder case in which eight Tamil civilians were killed on February 1 last year, has not begun, even after a year, due to the delay in receiving the Sri Lankan government analyst's report, court sources said.
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Serum ban increases deaths -MO

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 January 1999, 12:11 GMT]
Deaths due to snake bite has increased in Batticaloa's hinterland in recent months due to Sri Lankan Army (SLA) restrictions said medical sources in the eastern town. They said that exact figures were not available for the whole region as yet because few cases are recorded.
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SLA death squad spreads terror

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 January 1999, 16:58 GMT]
Aarumugam Kaaththalingam, 51, a poor plumber from Kokkuvil, an impoverished village on the northern outskirts of the Batticaloa town was gruesomely shot dead last night by unknown gunmen, suspected to be members of an SLA terror squad operating from a detachment nearby.
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Amnesty says 4 'disappeared' located

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 1999, 23:33 GMT]
Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog said it has recently learned that Mylvaganam Jayaseelan, one of those listed as missing after being arrested by the PLOTE was released on 3 January 1999 from the Kovilkulam PLOTE camp. Amnesty says it believes he may have been tortured in custody.
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Supreme court rules election postponement illegal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 1999, 16:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan supreme court decided unanimously today that the postment of elections to five provincial councils by the Sri Lankan government last year was invalid in law. The elections to the Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Western, the North central and the Central provincial councils were scheduled to be held on August 28.
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Six hurt in clash

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 1999, 16:12 GMT]
A member of the PLOTE, a Tamil para-military group working with the SLA, and a soldier were seriously wounded when a group of Liberation Tigers opened fire on them this afternoon around 12.55 p.m. at Thoonadi, 6.5 kilometres Southwest of Batticaloa. The Tigers has come in a tractor said sources.
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Jaffna children undernourished - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 1999, 11:33 GMT]
Sixty seven percent of the school children in Jaffna are undernourished according to a survey recently carried out in the peninsula by 'Ootru', the research organisation that has been engaged in scientific, social, economic and development studies in the north for almost two decades.
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Opposition parties demand poll cancellation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 1999, 13:50 GMT]
All the parties that contested the elections to Sri Lanka's North-western Provincial Council (NWPC), except the ruling PA, issued statements this afternoon demanding that the polls should be declared null and void forthwith.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 1999, 13:16 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army soldier (SLA) was killed in a clash with the Liberation Tigers in Irupalai in Jaffna yesterday; Tigers hand over body of a SLA soldier to ICRC; Young woman wounded in army fire; Youth reported missing in Jaffna and released youth detained again in Colombo.
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Curfew announced in election province

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 January 1999, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police announced a curfew to be enforced in the Puttalam and Kurunagale districts in the North-Western Province of the island from 11 p.m. The curfew is in anticipation of a further escalation of violence during the night.
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