Exhume Chemmani graves - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Amnesty International, the London based human rights watchdog, appealed today to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka "to allow the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) to jointly carry out preliminary investigations of the site at Chemmani, Jaffna with the help of leading forensic experts in the country".
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Police to investigate mass graves

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Police officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will visit the alleged 'Chemmani mass graves' on August 4 along with Sri Lankan Army copral Somaratne Rajapakse, the first accused in the rape and murder case of Krishanthi Kumaraswamy said sources.
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Mass graves cover up alleged

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr. M. Sivasithamparam, has appealed to the Human Rights Commission asking that foreign experts should be brought to excavate the mass graves at Chemmani. Between 300 and 400 people who disappeared whilst in military custody in Jaffna are alleged to have been buried in the graves.
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SLFP, UNP exchange rights accusations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
During the adjournment debate on alleged mass graves in Chemmani in the Sri Lankan Parliament, both main Sinhala mainstream parties, the UNP and the SLFP, attacked each other for human rights violations in their respective terms in office, said sources.
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Police to investigate mass graves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The National Human Rights Commission has urged the Sri Lankan Government to protect the areas of Chemmani where the bodies of between 300 and 400 people who disappeared whilst in military custody in Jaffna are alleged to have been buried. Sri Lankan State radio, meanwhile, said that the police had been asked to investigate the allegations.
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Investigation demanded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Tamil political parties and human rights groups have urged the Sri Lankan government to excavate the alleged mass graves in Chemmani in Jaffna in the presence of representatives of the public where between 300 and 400 Tamils are believed to have been buried.
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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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"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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'Excavate mass graves' - NGO Consortium

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The NGO Consortium of Jaffna has told the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka's Jaffna office, that not only should unauthorised graves at Chemmani be excavated, but mass graves in other parts of Jaffna too should be opened, said sources in Jaffna.
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Accused rapist alleges mass graves in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Revelations by Corporal Rajapakse, the first accused in the rape and murder case of Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, the Jaffna schoolgirl, that there were places in Jaffna where more than 400 dead bodies were buried, have had repercussions in the minds of the Jaffna public, said sources in Jaffna.
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Death sentence for Krishanthi accused

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and a policeman were given the death sentence by the three member bench trial at bar, for the abduction, rape and murder of Jaffna schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, and the murder of three other people, including her mother and brother, in September 1996, said sources.
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Krishanthi case accused escape police custody

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan army soldiers, accused of raping, torturing and murdering Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, a 18 year old Jaffna school girl, along with her mother, brother and their neighbour, escaped from Police custody when they were brought to the Colombo high court today.
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LTTE leader's speech distributed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Maveerar Day speech by the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Pirabakaran, was distributed in Jaffna town which is controlled by the Sri Lankan military.
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LTTE leader delivers Heroes Day address

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
In his annual Heroes day speech, the LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirabakaran said that the Sri Lankan government's devolution package was a political ploy staged to justify the strategic aims of its military campaign in the Tamil homelands. Mr. Pirabakaran's speech was broadcast on the Voice of Tigers radio today.
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Body count: an illusive index of 'progress'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 1997, 12:00 GMT]
"In a war without battle lines, perhaps the best overall index of progress is that of casualties". This view was delivered as part of the orientation given to newcomers to the US military's Saigon HQ at the height of the conflict in Vietnam. Despite several Sri Lankan offensives against the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE continues to vigorously resist the Sinhalese army in the Tamil homelands. In a bid to show 'progress' in its war, the Sri Lankans have developed a preoccupation with body counts.
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