Navy fire kills 9 fishermen

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 1998, 10:50 GMT]
The nine fishermen who were reported missing early this morning after the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) attacked a group of fishing boats in the sea off Mullaithivu, between Semmalai and Alampil were all migrant Sinhalese from the island's west coast said one of their colleagues who escaped the midsea carnage and swam ashore this afternoon.
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Appointed Governor decides market's fate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 November 1998, 04:33 GMT]
The new governor's decision regarding the opening of the Trincomalee New market shall be in accordance with the practising regulations of the Trincomalee Town Council. This information was sent by Mr. P.Sooriyamurthy, chairman of the Council, in a letter he sent yesterday to Alawi Maulana, Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils.
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Mother's Front Appeal to President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 1998, 23:01 GMT]
In a message to the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge, the Mothers' Front in Jaffna said they were still waiting for an official statement from her regarding what had happened to their children who have been reported missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lankan Army in 1996. The message, that was written in Sinhalese, was faxed to the President today.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 1998, 20:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka is to observe a two minute silence in respect of dead troops, Government allocates 700,000 RS for filming documentary about S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and TELO holds annual national convention today and tomorrow.
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Tigers release soldiers, ferry crew

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 1998, 03:50 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and three Sinhalese crewmen from the ferries "Irish Mona" and "M.V. Misen" in the custody of the Liberation Tigers were released today by S.P.Thamilchelvan, the leader of the LTTE's political wing at Puthukkudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district, the Voice Of Tigers (VoT) radio said yesterday evening.
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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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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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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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SLA attempts to clear Linganagar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 1998, 15:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has ordered all the Tamil residents of Linganagar in Trincomalee town to leave the suburb immediately. Sources in the eastern port town said that this might be the climax of the SLA's stubborn efforts to evict the Tamils and take over this suburb.
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Tamil speakers neglected - Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 September 1998, 09:39 GMT]
Producers and marketers of consumer goods in Sri Lanka are practising racial discrimination in packaging, says Mr. P. Chandrasekaran, junior minister for housing in plantation areas.
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Tamil labour settlement attacked

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 September 1998, 18:16 GMT]
The situation in the Ratnapura district continued to be volatile as Sinhala mobs attacked another Tamil labour settlement in the Benegoda estate.
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Line rooms torched

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 September 1998, 21:51 GMT]
Tamils from a tea estate in the Arulpola Division at Wewalwatte in the Ratnapura District, took refuge in a tea factory after a 300 strong Sinhala mob set fire to their 'line rooms' on Wednesday night, said sources.
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Tension ahead of Black July anniversary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Security has been tightened in the northern town of Jaffna with increased search operations being carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), as the 15th anniversary of 'Black July' approaches said sources in Jaffna. Road checks by the SLA have also been increased during the last few days, they added.
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Propaganda via Soap Opera

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
If there ever was a television serial crafted to have partisan political appeal, "Yuga Vilakkuwa", telecast over Sri Lanka's state owned Rupavahini, Saturday evenings, fits the bill eminently.
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Mass graves found - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Between 300 and 400 of the 700 civilians who were reported missing soon after the Sri Lankan government forces took control of the Jaffna peninsula three years ago, are buried in the paddy fields surrounding the main road near Chemmani checkpoint said this week's issue of Yukthiya, a Sinhala weekly. The paper has also published a map of the area, marking the location where the bodies are buried.
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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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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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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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