Amnesty concerned over new "disappearances"

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 16:44 GMT]
The Amnesty International Thursday issued a statement expressing its concern for safety of two Tamil youths who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers earlier this month in Vavuniya.
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Police name massacre victims

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 06:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan police has released names of 13 Tamil detainees massacred at the Bindunuwewa detention center in Bandarawela on Wednesday. The police said many bodies are charred beyond recognition by the fire at the Centre.
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Journalists protest colleague's slaying

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Over six hundred Sri Lankan journalists protested Wednesday against the brutal slaying of Jaffna based reporter Mylvaganam Nimalarajan allegedly by pro-government militiamen. The picket, conducted by the Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and other media institutions in Colombo took place opposite Fort Railway Station for about one and a half hours commencing from 12 noon. Meanwhile, other correspondents say they have been threatened in the wake of the killing.
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SLA disarms TELO "in revenge"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 13:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troops Thursday raided the camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Mannar town and Vavuniya around 4 p.m. and seized more than 90 assault rifles from them. Prasanna, a TELO leader in Colombo, told TamilNet that the government is taking revenge on his organisation "for refusing to compromise the national interests of the Tamil people".
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Tigers overwhelm satellite camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 October 2000, 05:02 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers attacked and broke through a section of the Forward defence Lines of the Sri Lanka army ahead of the Mannar-Vavuniya highway about 30 kilometers west of Vavuniya town, overwhelming a satellite camp in that sector in the early hours of the morning Wednesday.
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No franchise for Mullaithivu Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:10 GMT]
None of the Tamil voters in the Mullaithivu district will be able to vote in elections to Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament Tuesday 10 October. They have been precluded from the polls due to a decision by the Sri Lankan government not to have any polling booths in the district except one for 996 Sinhalese in Ibbanweva, a state backed settlement in the southern corner of Mullaithivu. "This is tantamount to denying them the exercise of their sovereignty as Sri Lankan citizens through the franchise or, in real terms, disfranchising them" said a political analyst in Colombo Monday asked to comment on the Mullaithivu situation.
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LTTE names fighters killed in action

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 October 2000, 05:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka Army soldiers continued to exchange heavy artillery and mortar fire in Nagar Kovil, Vadamaradchi East and in Thenmaradchi sector, said sources in Jaffna.
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Court frees PTA detainee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2000, 14:26 GMT]
The Vavuniya High Court Friday acquitted Ramachandran Yogarasa,24, indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), stating that the defence had proved that the confession from the accused had been obtained under duress.
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Claymore kills nine soldiers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2000, 18:04 GMT]
Nine Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed when the tractor in which they were travelling was hit by a powerful claymore mine blast north of Omanthai, around 7.30 p.m. Tuesday, security sources in Vavuniya said. One soldier was wounded.
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Judge questions medical reports on torture victims

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2000, 16:53 GMT]
The Vavuniya district judge M.Ilancheliyan said that doctors in the northern border town should not disgrace the medical profession by their unbecoming conduct. He said that although doctors at the Vavuniya hospital claimed in their reports that nothing was found wrong with persons arrested and held by the Police and the Sri Lanka army whom they had examined, cigarette burns and contusions due to severe assault were clearly discernible on the suspects bodies when they were asked to remove their shirts during the proceedings in the court.
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Claymore blast kills three

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2000, 10:31 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and a driver were killed when the three-wheeler in which they were traveling was hit by a claymore mine blast at Muttur, south of Trincomalee Sunday morning, security sources said.
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Poovarasankulam FDL attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2000, 15:00 GMT]
A military trained policeman was killed and another seriously wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked forward defence lines (FDL) in the Poovarasankulam sector in the Vavuniya district around 4.25 p.m. Thursday, security sources said.
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Indian fishermen released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2000, 14:59 GMT]
The High Court in Vavuniya Wednesday released four Indian fishermen who were arrested off the north-western coast 11 months ago and had been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act at Mirihana Detention Centre.
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EPDP cheating people of Jaffna -Anandasangari

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2000, 20:24 GMT]
"The EPDP was Premadasa's agent from 1989 to 1994. It has been operating as Chandrika's agent since 1995. Douglas Devananda, who did not have even half a cent in the past, is now getting seven million rupees a month from the government. The EPDP is cheating the people of Jaffna" said Mr. V. Anandasangari, senior vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) lashing out at the pro-Sri Lankan government armed Tamil group, the Eelam People's Democratic party, at a press conference in Jaffna town Tuesday morning.
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Nine parties contest in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Five political parties and an Independent Group today submitted their nomination papers to contest the Trincomalee electoral district during the forthcoming general elections.
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Fourteen SLAF killed in LTTE attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2000, 05:54 GMT]
Fourteen Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel were killed and eight were wounded when the tractor in which they were travelling was hit by a powerful claymore mine blast set off by the Liberation Tigers west of Vavuniya near the forward defence lines of the Sri Lanka army around 7.40 a.m Friday morning.
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"General deterioration in human rights" - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2000, 19:18 GMT]
In a letter sent to the President of Sri Lanka Thursday, Amnesty International urged investigations into an increasing number of "disappearances" reported over the last two weeks in northern Sri Lanka. "These "disappearances" have taken place in the context of a general deterioration in human rights following the introduction of emergency regulations in May 2000," Amnesty said.
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SLMC on PA ticket in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2000, 14:25 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslin Congress will contest under the ticket of People's Alliance (PA) in the eastern districts of Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee, while it will field its own list in northern Jaffna and Vanni electoral districts, according to an agreement reached between the President Chandrika Kumaratunga and SLMC leader A.H.M.Ashraff.
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Heavy fighting near Mannar MSR

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2000, 06:13 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted from the early hours of Tuesday morning in Uyilankulam, about 10 kilometers east of Mannar, when the Liberation Tigers launched an assault on the forward defence lines of the Sri Lankan security forces. Police sources in Mannar town told TamilNet that fighting continued in the area until 10 a.m.
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Court releases Vavuniya Red Cross head

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2000, 16:46 GMT]
Sivanathan Kishore, the head of the Vavuniya branch of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC), who was arrested by the Sri Lankan Police allegedly for links with the Liberation Tigers and detained for more than 16 months under the draconian Prevention Terrorism Act (PTA) was released Monday without charges by the Colombo high court.
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