SLMM seeks return of Pesalai market, library

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 August 2002, 20:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials in Mannar said Saturday they visited three places occupied by the Sri Lankan security forces in the region on complaints from the Church and a widow. The Sri Lanka Police occupies the public cemetery, market building and the public library in Pesalai, 14 kilometres west of Mannar town.
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Prisoners swap postponed by ten days

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 August 2002, 21:55 GMT]
The exchange of prisoners between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been postponed by about ten days and it will not take place as scheduled for Saturday at Omanthai in Vavuniya, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) sources said.
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Vanni artistes highlight detainees' plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 August 2002, 05:46 GMT]
A Tamil parliamentarian Thursday called for the repeal of Sri Lanka’s notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) under which hundreds of people continue to be detained. Mr. K. Thurairatnesingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was addressing people assembled at Trincomalee St. Joseph's College auditorium Thursday evening to view the play enacted by the Vanni Teachers' Aesthetic Society, a group of teacher-artistes of Vanni region.
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LTTE decides on delegation for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2002, 16:50 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have decided on the delegation they will be sending to the Norwegian facilitated peace talks in Thailand next month, a Tamil expatriate newspaper reported Tuesday. The LTTE will be sending a four person delegation led by the movement's chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to the 3-day negotiations scheduled to begin on September 16, LTTE sources told Tamil Guardian Monday. The paper also quoted LTTE officials as welcoming the Sri Lankan government's announcement Sunday that the ban on the movement would be lifted on September 6.
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NE doctors strike over pay discrimination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 12:58 GMT]
More than three hundred resident medical officers working in the Northeast government hospitals and dispensaries, Tuesday, went on a strike, demanding that they also should be paid special mission allowance now being paid for non-resident doctors from other provinces.
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NE doctors to strike against discrimination

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 17:40 GMT]
Resident medical officers working in the northeast province have decided to strike from Tuesday, demanding that they should also be paid one year special mission allowance now being paid for the non-resident medical officers serving in northeast hospitals.
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Stolen vehicles 'sold in north'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 17:52 GMT]
People in the north of Sri Lanka should be wary of buying vehicles which could be stolen in the south of the island, the Vavuniya Magistrate warned. "People in Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar should think twice before purchasing a vehicle from strangers, as a gang is operating in selling vehicles which have been stolen in the south," Mr.M.Illancheliyan, said at a murder inquest.
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Japanese Ambassador visits Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 11:47 GMT]
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sciichiro 0tsuka, visited Vavuniya Monday and reviewed resettlement now being undertaken in the northern district. The Ambassador's visit was intended to study how his government could assist about nine thousand villagers who have been resettled in more than twenty villages in the Nedunkerny divisional secretariat area, Vavuniya Government Agent, K. Ganesh, said.
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NE District Unions in new Consortium

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 01:56 GMT]
A new organisation, the Consortium of North East Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies Unions (TCCS) has been formed with its headquarters in Trincomalee. Eight district member unions of the NorthEast province which had been aligned with the Sri Lanka Federation of TCCS Ltd with its headquarters in Colombo became members of the TCCS.
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Six arrested entering Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 17:09 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam police arrested six people who entered LTTE-held Vanni without permission in two separate incidents on August 4, Tamil press reports said Monday. Among those arrested were three weapon-carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who attempted to infiltrate into LTTE-held areas.
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Trinco-Batticaloa highway to reopen

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 12:47 GMT]
The A15 highway between Batticaloa and Trincomalee is to be reopened for public use following discussions between representatives of the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers, Tamil press reports said Monday. A significant portion of the 132 km long road is under the control of the LTTE.
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TNA to coordinate with LTTE offices

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 August 2002, 21:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Sunday that it would exert pressure on the United National Front (UNF) government to fully implement the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. "We will inform foreign envoys in Colombo the urgent need for the full implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement by the UNF government," TNA parliamentarians told reporters.
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Eleven remanded in Madhu killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 July 2002, 20:53 GMT]
The Vavuniya Magistrate M.Illancheliyan Wednesday ordered remand for eleven suspects, eight Sinhalese and three Tamils, in connection with the murder of three persons whose bodies were recovered on 25 July by the Tamileelam police in Thatchanamaruthamadhu near the Madhu shrine.
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SLA restricts devotees to high security zone temple

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 July 2002, 20:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Wednesday informed the Hindu Affairs Minister that only eight devotees and a priest would be allowed daily to visit and conduct rituals at the Rajarajeswary Amman temple, which is in the high security zone in Valikamam North.
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T. E, S. L Police investigate Madhu murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 12:21 GMT]
The Tamileelam Police service Sunday afternoon handed over to the Sri Lanka Police the bodies of three persons from Kandy, suspected to have been murdered in the Madhu region last week. The Government Agent for Vavuniya arranged the transfer, officials said. Mr. Manikavasakar Ilancheliyan, the Vavuniya district judge who inspected the bodies Sunday at the Vavuniya hospital, directed the Police to seek, through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, evidence, productions, witnesses and suspects arrested in connection with the murder in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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N-E athletic meet commences

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 July 2002, 15:30 GMT]
Athletes from all the eight districts in the North-east Province are participating in the two-day provincial Track and Field Championships-2002, which began Saturday morning at Urban Council grounds, Vavuniya. The Head of the LTTE's Sports Division, Mr.A.Inban, officially participated at the inaugural event.
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Legal aid plan for internally displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2002, 20:53 GMT]
Over seven hundred thousand people are internally displaced in Sri Lanka as a result of the ethnic conflict and have been deprived of the rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens, Mr. S. S. Wijeratne, Chairman of the Legal Aid Foundation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said in his key note address at the inaugural event of the Free Legal Aid clinic held Saturday morning in Trincomalee.
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Students' protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 19:17 GMT]
More than twenty thousand Tamil and Muslim students Tuesday marched in protest against the continuing occupation of schools by the Sri Lankan army and the general discrimination they are subjected to by Colombo. The students handed over memorandums to the Vavuniya government agent, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the UNHCR and the UNICEF in the northern border town.
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New Army fortifications in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 13:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka armed forces are hurriedly building fortifications and expanding their bases in the Jaffna peninsula while public buildings vacated by the military remain beyond the public use as the surrounding areas are declared high security zones, Tamil press reports said last week.
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'Military testing our patience' -Trinco LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 July 2002, 12:42 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan security forces test our patience frequently. But we won't violate the cease-fire agreement signed by our leader with the Sri Lankan government. At the same time we will not do anything that will derail the ceasefire agreement," said Ms Krishna, Trincomalee district women wing secretary of the Liberation Tigers presiding over the events to mark Black Tigers Day in Trincomalee town Friday evening.
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