Jaffna fishermen demand action

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 1998, 19:32 GMT]
Representatives from fishermen's organisations in Jaffna unanimously resolved this afternoon to lobby all Tamil political parties, groups and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that the problems they may face if the army were to impose a ban on fishing in the eastern sector of the Pannai lagoon should be addressed.
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Muslim youths urged to join

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 1998, 17:33 GMT]
A letter from the Sri Lankan Police strongly urging Muslim youth to join the Home Guards was read out at Mosques in Valaichenai and Ottamaavadi after the Jummah prayers this afternoon. According to the letter, any Muslim youth who had attended school upto grade five is eligible to become a Home Guard.
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UNP boycotts peace meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 22:20 GMT]
An ambitious all party, all NGO discussion forum called by the most powerful trade and industrial associations of Sri Lanka mainly with a view to iterate the need for peacefully resolving the war in the island's north-east drew mixed reactions despite general agreement among participants that seeking peace is of utmost importance today.
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JVP warns of anti-Tamil violence - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 11:55 GMT]
Sinhala racist organisations are trying to use the deaths of large numbers of Sri Lankan soldiers recently to whip up anti-Tamil violence, said a JVP leader, Mr. Vimal Weerawamsa at a party meeting last week, according to the Sinhala language newspaper, the Lakbima.
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New Zealand Tamils appeal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 1998, 23:04 GMT]
New Zealand's Tamil community appealed Sunday to the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Conference over the alleged mass graves of civilians killed by Sri Lankan troops in Jaffna, said the organisers of the event in a press release issued yesterday.
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Bomb explodes at Hindu festival

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 1998, 09:37 GMT]
A female singer, Kowsalya Thadchanamoorthy, 23, and another person were killed and at least 20 others wounded when a bomb exploded at a music concert at Karaithivu Vipulananthar Tamil School in Kalmunai, 38 km south of Batticaloa, last night around 11.00 p.m.
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Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism blamed for war

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 1998, 12:00 GMT]
(News Feature)Mr. Kumar Ponambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, while addressing the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London yesterday, said that the mindset of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism was central to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. The audience, which included NGOs, academics and British government officials was also addressed by Mr. Visuvananthan Rudrakumaran, one of the Liberation Tigers' legal advisors, Mr. Barry Gardiner, a British MP and Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingham, a Tamil academic.
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Courts closed by letters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 1998, 17:38 GMT]
Courts in Jaffna closed today after receiving letters said to be from the "Tamil Eelam Administrative Service" signed by Thooyavan, the political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers in the peninsula, said legal sources.
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India-bound refugees detained

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 1998, 07:10 GMT]
Forty-eight Tamil refugees, belonging to 15 families, were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) Thursday night when they attempted to cross over to India to seek refuge there said aid workers.
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News in Brief

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 1998, 03:13 GMT]
Two persons are shot dead in Uyilankulam, while a student who was knifed during a fight in a private school in Colombo succumbs to injuries.
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Four TELO members killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 1998, 05:09 GMT]
Four armed cadres of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO)-a paramilitary group working with the SLA- were killed and two were wounded in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers early this morning around 5 a.m. in Aaraiampathy (Aaraipattai), 7 kilometers south of Batticaloa town.
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Ex-CVF shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 1998, 18:46 GMT]
An ex-militiaman of Civilian Volunteer Force (CVF) identified as Meerasahib was found shot dead this morning near the Paandirippu cemetery. The CVF was established by the Indian army in 1989 with Tamil and Muslim youth recruited and conscripted through the EPRLF.
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A historic defeat?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 1998, 12:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's opposition MP Mr. Ronnie De Mel, speaking on the extension of the island wide emergency in the parliament yesterday, said that the debacle of the Sri Lankan army in Kilinochchi is the greatest defeat suffered by the Sinhalese in history after the conquest of Anuradhapura by the Cholas.
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Birth certificates asked for

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 1998, 10:37 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces personnel manning check posts in the Colombo have asked some Tamils to produce their birth certificates along with their National Identity (NI) cards during road checks, said human rights sources in Colombo.
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PLOTE member shot dead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 1998, 22:29 GMT]
A member of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Deni Dannas, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Mannar this evening around 07.45 p.m. His body has been brought to the Mannar hospital.
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Indian fisherman fast in protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 1998, 22:49 GMT]
Five Indian fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in the high seas off northern Sri Lanka early this year began a protest fast in prison today demanding their release and repatriation to Tamil Nadu. The fishermen are from Rameswaram on the south Indian coast.
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Vanni protest fast continues

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 1998, 12:32 GMT]
A large number of people are continuing their protest fast in front of the Mullaitivu Government Agent's office and other government offices in the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts said aid workers and officials today.
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Massive protests in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 1998, 12:29 GMT]
Over 2000 demonstrators were arrested this morning by Police in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, during widespread demonstrations protesting against the killings by Sri Lankan troops of over 400 Tamils whose bodies are said to have been buried in mass graves in Chemmani on the Jaffna peninsula.
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LTTE files challenge to designation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 1998, 10:50 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) filed its brief with the US court of Appeals in support of its legal challenge to its designation by the US state department as an organisation involved in terrorist activities, said legal sources.
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Disappearances may be reprisals

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 1998, 21:05 GMT]
Twenty four Tamils are reported missing in the village of Koppaveli, 30 kilometers north west of Batticaloa from the early hours of the morning today said Divisional Secretary (DS) of Chenkalady.
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