Committee to investigate detainees' conditions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Government (SLG) has appointed a committee of Ministers and senior Parliamentarians to investigate allegations of mistreatment of detainees, said Radio Sri Lanka in its broadcast yesterday.
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"Commission's mandate too narrow" - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Joseph Pararajasingham, MP, has exhorted the Sri Lanka President, Chandrika Kumaratunga to extend the mandate of the recently constituted Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Disappearances, to also investigate disappearances that occurred in the Tamil majority areas in the period from July 1995 to the present.
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TELO files nominations

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) is expected file nominations for the western provincial council elections said sources close to ex-militant groups in Colombo.
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Army patrol ambushed

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army soldier was killed and two wounded when the Liberation Tigers ambushed an army patrol yesterday around 11 p.m. in Pulmoddai, north of the eastern port town of Trincomalee, ex-militant sources told TamilNet.
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Protests at Illegal Settlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A Tamil Member of Parliament protested to Indika Gunawardene, Minister of Housing, Construction and Public Utilities, about moves by the Sri Lanka Government (SLG) to give illegal Sinhalese occupants the titles to lands and houses belonging to Tamils, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Mine clearing delayed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A seminar on educating the public on deactivating buried pressure mines was held in Jaffna on Monday, under the auspices of the Department of Community Medicine, University of Jaffna, and UNICEF, said sources in Jaffna.
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Sri Lanka conflict not on SAARC agenda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Leaders of the seven South Asian countries who are expected to meet in Colombo for the South Asian Association for Regional Co- operation (SAARC) summit at the end of this month are not expected to focus on Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict, said sources close to the Indian diplomatic mission in Colombo.
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Delft youth barred from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Youth below the age of 25 are not permitted to travel to the Jaffna peninsula from the Delft, an island off Jaffna's northwestern coast, except for emergencies, said sources in Jaffna.
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Cafes close over cholera fears

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Doctor K. T. Sivapalan, Deputy Director of Health for the Jaffna District, has told health inspectors to take all precautions necessary to arrest the spread of cholera in Jaffna.
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Student boycott called off after apology

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) tendered an unqualified apology to the high school students of Trincomalee this morning, after students insisted that they would boycott classes until the SLA apologised for assaulting them during a peaceful demonstration on Monday, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Graduate Protest Resolved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga agreed to appoint protesting unemployed graduates as high school teachers yesterday evening, but not before high school students demonstrating in Trincomalee town, were assaulted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said sources in Trincomalee.
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Tigers attack Police Patrol in Amparai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Six Special Task Force commandos and five home guards were killed when the Liberation Tigers attacked a joint clearing patrol today around 8.30 a.m. in Pulukunavai in the eastern Amparai district, said ex-militant sources in Europe when contacted by TamilNet.
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TELO accused of extortion

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
In response to a complaint made by the public that members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) were indulging in extortion and other corrupt practices in Jaffna, Brigadier Susantha Mendis, Brigade Commander, Jaffna Town, said today, that he will not allow any orgainsation to engage in lawlessness, said sources in Jaffna.
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'300 to 400 bodies have been buried'

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
On 3 July 1998, the Colombo High Court sentenced five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen charged with rape and murder in the Krishanthi Kumaraswamy case to death. Local and international human rights activists have welcomed the fact that a severe sentence was passed, indicating the gravity of the crimes, but there are doubts as to whether this marks an end to the climate of impunity in Sri Lanka.
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Bodies of youth handed over to ICRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The bodies of two youth, suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), killed in a clash with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Pallai, 30 km southeast of Jaffna on June 30, were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday, said sources in Jaffna.
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Chief Priest rejects Committee Findings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Mahanayake Thera (Chief Priest) of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siam Nikaya rejected the findings of the official three member committee headed by Chandrananda De Silva, Secretary, Ministry of Defence, appointed to probe the Maligawa bomb blast, said the Sunday Times today.
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Batticaloa youth shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An unidentified youth riding a bicycle was shot dead by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Viloontrikovil, near Vantharamoolai, 15 km north of Batticaloa around 5:00 p.m. yesterday, said ex-militant sources in Europe when contacted by TamilNet last night.
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Protests over planned evictions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Over 500 persons staged a peaceful sit down protest (Satyagraha) before the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat on Friday, protesting against the notice issued by the Sri Lanka Government that it intended to acquire the land on which their homes had stood for 30years, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Fear in Batticaloa, Amparai

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Members of the public in the Batticaloa and Amparai Districts are fearful that they might be punished by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for filing cases in the courts run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and for making complaints to the LTTE's police force, said ex-militant sources in Europe today when contacted by TamilNet.
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Fast love?

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A school girl was abducted this afternoon from a leading school in Vantharamoolai, 15 km south of Batticaloa, and taken to Eravur, 12 km north of Batticaloa, before she was rescued, said sources Batticaloa.
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