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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Colonisation sparks communal passions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Communal passions flared up when encroachment on state land in Trincomalee was discussed during the Trincomalee District Coordinating Committee meeting at the Trincomalee District Secretariat last morning, said sources at this eastern seaport town.
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Hindu Conference condemns Sri Lankan forces

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An International conference on Hinduism has condemned attacks on Hindus and the destruction of Hindu places of worship by Sri Lankan security forces and urged the Sri Lankan government to halt such attacks. The 'First International Conference on Hindu Solidarity' held in Paris on 27 and 28 June at the UNESCO auditorium and attended by delegates from several countries.
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Colonisation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An illegal colonisation of Sinhalese, backed by the Sri Lankan Army and Police is taking place in areas between the native Tamil villages of Kurankup Paalam and Vilankulam in the Trincomalee district, on the Trincomalee-Colombo road, said sources in the eastern port town of Trincomalee.
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Fast unto death continues

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Attorney General and the Prison Commissioner are yet to respond to demands put forward by the Tamil detainees held at the Kalutara prison who began a fast unto death yesterday, demanding their release or the implementation of legal proceedings against them.
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Burning of Jaffna Library Remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
People in Jaffna will wear black ribbon today to mark the burning of the Jaffna Public Library 17 years ago, said PLOTE and EPRLF sources in Jaffna. The library, burnt to the ground on the 1st of June 1981 by Sri Lankan Police, contained the largest collection of Tamil literature in Asia, a collection that included many irreplaceable manuscripts.
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Tigers say army advance in deep trouble

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The latest offensive launched by the Sri Lankan Army yesterday to capture Mankulam has run into deep trouble claimed the Liberation Tigers in a press release issued today from their international secretatriat.
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Till the other side cracks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military's widespread and indiscriminate use of artillery and air power is arguably the major cause of civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka. In the past few years, the Sri Lankan military has repeatedly up-gunned its forces with ever larger caliber field guns, with more numerous aircraft that are capable of carrying heavier payloads and more heavily armed naval craft.
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Trinco UC's deadline ignored

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Trincomalee Urban Council (UC) resolved at a special meeting on Saturday, to stage a token fast in front of the Council's office on May 20, protesting against the failure of the Regional Assistant Commissioner of Local Government to grant the UC permission to open the new general market in Trincomalee town, said sources there.
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Anura defends S.W.R.D. on Sinhala-Only

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"There are some people who say my father's (former Prime Minister, S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake) decision to make Sinhala the official language of this country lead to the ethnic conflict. I strongly denounce this", said Anura Bandaranayake, UNP parlimentarian and brother of Sri Lanka's President, Chandrika Kumaratunge while speaking at a meeting in Ratmalana on Sunday.
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Doyen of Sinhala nationalism passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Gamani Jayasuriya, an ardent Sinhala nationalist and controversial politician died today. He was 74. He was Minister of Agriculture in J R Jayewardena's 1977 Cabinet from which he resigned in 1987, protesting against the Indo-Lanka Accord. Gamani Jayasuriya was also a stout champion of Buddhism and associated with many organisations such as the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress.
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Eastern colonisation ongoing- UNP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A massive illegal colonisation of Sinhalese sponsored by the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party is taking place in the Trincomalee district said UNP sources in the eastern port town today.
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Doctor harrased mother - Red Cross official

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sivanthan Kishore, Secretary of the Vavuniya branch of the Red Cross Society, has informed the Sri Lankan medical authorities of an incident where a Sinhalese doctor at Anuradhapura hospital had accused a Tamil woman named Arulrani (31) of working for the Liberation Tigers. Arulrani had brought her year old child for treatment at the hospital.
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Nine bodies recovered - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers confirmed in a press release issued from its International Secretariat that they had beaten back the SLA's three pronged assault on Mankulam. The LTTE said that SLA troops had withdrawn on all three fronts, having suffered heavy casualties.
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Puttalam Sinhalese fear Muslim settlers - ULF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Resettling refugees from the Muslim community in the Puttalam area and allowing them to register as voters there is perceived as a threat by members of the majority Sinhalese community who are native to those areas, said United Lalith Front's (ULF) Ms. Srimani Athulathmudali, MP, recently in Parliament.
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Tamil gunmen operating with Colombo troops

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothing who accompany uniformed Sri Lankan security forces personnel, including police, during cordon and search operations in Colombo are strongly suspected to be members of certain ex-Tamil militant groups now working with the SLA as para-military units, a human rights lawyer, who was not willing to be identified, told TamilNet.
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Youths missing after arrest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Five youths were taken into custody by home guards at Koyilporatheevu, 25 km north-west Batticaloa on March 31, while they were catching hares in the paddy fields and shrubs in the area, said sources in Batticaloa. The five youths, who are from Aliyarvattai in the 35th Colony of the Gal Oya scheme, were arrested when they crossed into the village of 36th Colony.
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With extreme prejudice

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The racial hatred that had been simmering at the Kalutara prison where Tamils arrested under the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are remanded, exploded into naked violence on December 12 last year, resulting in the deaths of three Tamils who were being held under preventive detention.
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Refugees denied dry rations

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
More than 1000 civilians who were forcibly evicted by the Sri Lankan Army from the villages of Iththikkulam, Sinnakkulam and Maravattaikkulam south of Trincomalee last month are yet to be issued dry rations by the government authorities, said sources in Muthur.
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Repair vehicles destroyed on A-9

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of armed persons, suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers, blasted three heavy vehicles of the Sri Lankan government's Road Development Authority (RDA) which were engaged in rebuilding the A-9 highway to Jaffna between Vavuniya and Kanakarayan Kulam this afternoon around 2 p.m. at Vaarikkuttiyoor on the Vavuniya Mannar road.
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