Plans to settle Sinhalese in Jaffna -Devananda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 1999, 16:46 GMT]
The EPDP leader Douglas Devananda MP charged in Parliament today that the Sri Lankan Security forces are attempting to establish a Sinhala colony on 12 thousand acres of land belonging to Tamil civilians adjacent to the Palaly-Kankesanthurai base complex.
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New date set for PC polls

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 1999, 07:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka's commissioner of Elections announced this morning that the date for polls to the five provincial councils, Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Northcentral and Uva provinces, has been postponed to April 6. The Supreme Court directed him on March 9 to postpone the elections, which were earlier fixed for April 1 and announce in two days a new date not later than April 27.
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Police resign over new duties

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 1999, 22:18 GMT]
Twenty Sri Lankan policemen who were recently transferred from guard duty at Puliyankulam in the Vanni to new positions on the Vavuniya-Mannar road have submitted their resignations, said Police sources.
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Sinhala, Tamil classes for Trinco youth

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 February 1999, 19:21 GMT]
The National Youth Services Council, functioning under the Ministry of Youth Affairs, has launched a programme to conduct language class for the youth community of the country, to teach Tamil language to Sinhalese and Sinhala to Tamils.
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Sinhala supremacists pursue economic dominance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 1999, 23:59 GMT]
Tension between the Sinhala and Muslim communities in the northcentral province of Sri Lanka continued to mount today as moves were afoot to stop the pogrom from spreading further. Forty shops and businesses belonging to Muslims were completely burnt in Nochchiyagama since Monday night.
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Curfew following communal violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 February 1999, 17:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police declared curfew in Nochchiyagama, in the northcentral province, about 170 kilometers northwest of Colombo, today following an attack on Muslim shops in the town last night.
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Sinhala-Muslim tension mounts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 1999, 09:56 GMT]
The tension between Sinhalese and Muslims continued to mount in the Pannala, in the Kurunagala district about 100 kilometres northwest of Colombo, despite the declaration of curfew in the general area last evening. Shops and houses of Muslims in Pannala were ransacked and set on fire by Sinhala mobs from Monday.
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Curfew amid Sinhala Muslim tension

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 1999, 18:21 GMT]
Curfew was declared by the Sri Lankan Police in Pannala, a town in the Kurunagala district, about 100 kilometers northwest of Colombo, following indications that clashes could erupt between Muslims and Sinhalese in the area.
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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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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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Monument unveiled for police KIA

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 1999, 16:03 GMT]
Senior DIG of the Sri Lankan Police, T.E Anantharajah unveiled a monument erected in memory of policemen killed in the ethnic conflict since 1984 at the Trincomalee Headquarters Police Station this morning. The monument has been erected for the 200 policemen who were killed in the Trincomalee police division from August 1984 to September 1998.
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Appeals over Oddusuddan displaced

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 1999, 10:44 GMT]
The Vanni Citizen Committee has urged the UNHCR officials, in a memorandum, to make arrangements to provide relief assistance to the 15,000 displaced people of Oddusuddan who had sought refuge at Puthukudiyeruppu area in Mullaithivu district.
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Police intimidate Muslim villagers

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 11:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police and home-guards have been intimidating the residents of a small farming village in Aaleemsenai, in the eastern district of Ampara, said villagers.
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Governor passes verdict on the market

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 January 1999, 22:18 GMT]
(News Feature) Hopes that the impasse over the opening of the new Trincomalee market might be resolved by the recently appointed North-eastern Province Governor, Maj.Gen..Asoka Jayawardana, were dashed today. The market was built by the Trincomalee Urban Council (UC). The project ran into problems when it was obstructed by senior Army officials and other Sri Lanka Government servants.
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LTTE intercepts SLA advance

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 January 1999, 17:42 GMT]
The advance by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) into the Tharavai-Vadamunai hinterland yesterday was intercepted by the Liberation Tigers at Pulipaaintha Kal junction, about 30 kilometers north of Batticaloa, sources in Valaichenai said.
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SLA operation in Thoppigala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 December 1998, 16:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops launched a fresh offensive against the Liberation Tigers in the Thoppigala jungles 40 km northwest of Batticaloa, in the eastern province security sources said today.
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TULF 'will continue struggle'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 December 1998, 23:32 GMT]
The funeral of Mr. Pon Mathimugaraja, the Tamil United Liberation Front's (TULF) Jaffna Branch Secretary, took place in Jaffna today. His body was kept at the TULF office at Stanley road where a commemoration meeting was also held. Mr. Anandasangary, the vice president of the party, spoke at the meeting,
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Religion, commerce and intolerance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 December 1998, 00:23 GMT]
(News Feature) A project by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Tourism to build a temple to the Hindu god Ram at Seetha Eliya near Nuwara Eliya in the island's hill country with a view to attract Indian pilgrim tourists now hangs in the balance following a strong protest yesterday by forty Buddhist organisations.
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Buddhist clergy claims Hindu, Muslim threat

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 1998, 22:03 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrated at Borella junction in Colombo this afternoon to protest against the building of Hindu temples in various parts of the country and the introduction of the Halal bill.
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EROS nominations rejected

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 1998, 11:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Elections Commissioner rejected the nominations filed by the Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF) for the Northwestern Provincial Council today on the ground that a person identified as K.G.R Pathmasena, a Sinhalese from Malwana, had fraudulently signed the papers instead of Velupillai Balakumar, who still remains the general secretary of the party. Mr.Balakumar joined the Liberation Tigers eight years ago.
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