16 Indian fishermen detained

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 1998, 14:24 GMT]
Sixteen fishermen from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu were detained yesterday by the Sri Lankan Army SLA in Nagar Kovil on the southeastern coast of Jaffna when they came ashore after having lost their bearings in the sea.
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14 Tamil refugees intercepted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 1998, 14:16 GMT]
Sources in Mannar said that the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) has arrested 14 Tamil refugees in the seas of Thalaimannar on Thursday, December 17, when they tried to cross over to the neighbouring India.
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Protest over Iraq attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 1998, 13:54 GMT]
Nearly 6000 Muslims staged a protest demonstration today in Puttalam and Vavuniya against the attacks on Iraq by the US and the UK.
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PLOTE critical of American action

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 December 1998, 19:48 GMT]
The PLOTE's (People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) current de facto leader, Manikkadasan, said today that he will organise demonstrations against the US and British missions in Colombo to protest against the American attack on Iraq.
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Action urged over Chemmani graves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 1998, 19:13 GMT]
The Vanni Citizen's Committee has urged the UN Commission for Human Rights to intervene in the affair of the Chemmani mass graves and to bring pressure to bear on the Sri Lankan government to take appropriate action against those responsible for the killings of those buried in the graves.
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New SLA commander assumes duties

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 1998, 16:48 GMT]
"We urgently need twenty thousand more troops to fight the Liberation Tigers" said Sri Lanka's new Army commander, Lt. Gen. Sri Lal Weerasooriya, addressing a press conference this morning soon after assuming duties. He added that meeting this need by having recourse to conscription is not practical (in Sri Lanka).
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 1998, 22:04 GMT]
Police in Amparai shot and killed three youths and arrested a jeweller in connection with two motorbikes they found fixed with explosives. A special combat unit of PLOTE cadres is to work with the Sri Lankan Army in operations against the Tigers.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 1998, 10:45 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Policeman was killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers in Mannar this morning, cash shortage delays Jaffna policemen's salary and Eastern teachers say Tamil is neglected in their training program.
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TULF team in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 1998, 20:23 GMT]
A four member team of the TULF arrived in Jaffna by a special Sri Lankan military flight today to revive the function of the Jaffna Municipal Council. The team is in Jaffna with a mandate to ratify the Council's budget for 1999 said party sources.
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Buddhist monk arrested in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 1998, 16:36 GMT]
Kadiragamuwa Sri Ratna Himi, a Buddhist monk accused of stealing archaeological treasures in the south-eastern parts of Sri Lanka, was produced in the Amapara district court today.
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Para- military infighting continues

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 1998, 14:14 GMT]
Arasaratnam Ganeshamoorthy, 33, a former member the EPRLF, has complained to the Human Rights Commission in Batticaloa that he has been arrested and severely beaten up by the members of the People's Liberation Organisation Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).
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Police fire wounds student

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 1998, 08:57 GMT]
Ponnuthurai Nakuleswaran,15, a student at the government school in Thambalagamam, 22 kilometers southwest of Trincomalee, was seriously wounded this morning around 9.30 a.m. when military trained Policemen opened fire indiscriminately in this large Tamil village.
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South African delegation Visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 1998, 20:57 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna, Rev. Philip Thomas Saundranayagam, told the visiting South African parliamentary delegation in Jaffna that the Sri Lankan Government should address to the fundamental problems of the ethnic conflict to achieve lasting peace in the island.
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Congressional discussion focuses on Rights violations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 1998, 17:56 GMT]
A five member panel of experts on Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka, speaking at Congressional Human Rights Caucus staff round table discussions, were unanimous in their call to the Sri Lankan Government to expedite the investigations into the alleged mass graves at Chemmani, Jaffna where up to 400 bodies of Tamils disappeared in 1996 and 1997 may be buried.
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"Tigers should retain arms" - TELO

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 1998, 17:36 GMT]
Mr. Sivajilingam of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said while speaking at a meeting organised in view of the International Humarn Rights Day Trincomalee that he would not ask the Tigers to lay down their arms.
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Jaffna protest over human rights

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 1998, 17:16 GMT]
The Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) and 15 other Non Governmental Organisations in Jaffna sent a memorandum to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan on December 10, to mark Human Rights Day.
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Tamils join HR vigil at UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 1998, 08:26 GMT]
The Association of Sri Lankan Tamils joined more than 45 international organizations in a rally and candlelight vigil in front of UN headquarters in New York yesterday afternoon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations.
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Batticaloa women protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 1998, 18:12 GMT]
Several women's groups in Batticaloa staged a token sit-in today in Batticaloa town to mark human rights day. About 150 women took part in the sit in demonstration in the town centre. The sit in was organised by eighteen women's groups that are active in the region.
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Vadamaradchi exams cancelled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 1998, 18:09 GMT]
Students, parents and teachers in Vadamaradchi east were angered today by a decision by the Jaffna district department of education not to hold the GCE (O.L)exams scheduled to be held on December 14 at five examination centres in their area.
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EPDP stages Satyagraha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 1998, 18:05 GMT]
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) marked world human rights day in Jaffna with a token Satyagraha near the Kandasamy temple in Nallur. Sources said that more than thousand people took part in the token fast and sit in.
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