WHO, ADB to help NE rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2002, 13:51 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday announced that it has allocated four thousand million rupees for the rehabilitation of war ravaged Jaffna district. The money will be spent on rehabilitating schools, medical institutions and housing in the peninsula, ADB officials said.
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Hindu Minister visits devastated Nagarkovil village

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 August 2002, 20:48 GMT]
A group of civilians headed by the Hindu Affairs Minister Mr. T. Maheswaran visited Nagathambiran Temple located in Nagarkovil village, which is in a high security zone in the Vadamaradchi area of the Jaffna district Friday. This was the first time a civilian group had gone to Nagarkovil since its capture by the Sri Lanka Army two years ago, sources said.
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Black Tiger day marked at site of first attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 July 2002, 01:40 GMT]
Over five thousand people gathered in Nelliady in the Jaffna peninsula Friday to mark Black Tigers day - the first time the event had been held here since 1995. July 5 is the anniversary of the death of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, who was killed destroying a Sri Lanka Army base located in the Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidiyalyam - the site of the commemoration this Friday. His mother was amongst those who paid their respects to fallen Black Tigers.
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SLA takes over scores of homes in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 02:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army last week took over scores of civilian homes amid its efforts to expand its fortifications in the Thenmaradchi district of the Jaffna peninsula, Tamil press reports said. Sri Lankan forces have occupied 43 houses in one part of the district and have begun turning them into army camps, according to a complaint made to the District Secretary S Srinivasan. A new SLA base is being constructed in the village of Kaputhu also, the reports said.
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SLA reinforces Nagarkovil base

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 03:07 GMT]
The Nagarkovil Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base, which is part of the military's Forward Defense Line (FDL) in Vadamaradchi East, is being expanded with additional troops moved from SLA positions in Eluthumadduval, Muhamalai and Mirusuvil in the Thenmaradchi sector, the Thinakural reported Saturday.
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New SLA camp at Sakkottai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 21:40 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has established a new camp at Sakkottai, Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district. The SLA personnel are engaged in constructing bunkers around the new camp, residents said.
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Students boycott classes over Army presence

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 11:43 GMT]
The students of Point Pedro Hartley College and Methodist Girls College in Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district Monday boycotted their classes demanding that the Sri Lanka Army should vacate their schools immediately as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers.
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Jaffna fishermen tell Colombo to lift controls

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 15:59 GMT]
Hundreds of protesting fishermen paralysed the Jaffna District Secretariat and blocked traffic in a busy part of the northern town Thursday, demanding that Colombo should do away with restrictions on fishing. Colombo promised to lift draconian controls on fishing in the Northeast within ninety days when it signed the cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers on 24 February. Tamil fishermen, however, say that many restrictions remain. "Don't sell our seas to China", the protesting fishermen shouted, objecting to an alleged proposal by the Sri Lankan government to allow the Chinese start a fisheries project on the Jaffna coast.
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Tamil students' rallies, protests in Northeast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 13:27 GMT]
Thousands of students in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai held rallies Thursday to observe the Tamil Students’ Upsurge Day, protesting against decades of discrimination by Colombo, bombing of schools, chronic dearth of teachers, classrooms, teaching and science equipment, arrest and detention of schoolchildren, and the presence of Sri Lankan security forces in their schools. Student leaders who addressed the rallies demanded that Tamil students too be granted equal opportunities in education by Colombo, denied them for more than three decades under partisan education schemes.
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SLA bars IDPs returning by sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 19:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Tuesday refused to permit more than 32 fishermen and their families who came by sea from the Mullaithivu coast to land in Sakkottai, a fishing village near Pt. Pedro in Jaffna, from which they were displaced by the war in 1995. "The fishermen have come with their gear and other belongings to resettle in their village. It is too expensive for them to bring their boats, out board motors and fishing gear by road to Jaffna. They are stranded in mid sea with women and children because of the SLA is refusing to consider their plight", an official of the Federation of Fisheries Societies in Vadamaradchi told TamilNet.
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Major projects not possible in Jaffna yet - World Bank

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 16:58 GMT]
The World Bank said Monday that the situation in Jaffna is still not suitable for starting long term development projects in the northern peninsula. The Vice President of the Bank (South Asia Region) Mr.Mieko Nizhimisu and its Sri Lanka co-ordinator, Marianna Todorova, visited the Kopay College ofEducation, the destroyed Chavakachcheri town, and the Jaffna District Secretariat Monday. The Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Soundranayagam, told the World Bank team when it called on him later in the day that 60 percent of the houses in the peninsula have been damaged by the war.
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SLA threats stop war-dead remembrance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 18:16 GMT]
A function in Pt. Pedro, Jaffna, to mark the death anniversary of an officer of the Liberation Tigers had to be abandoned by his relatives and friends Sunday following intimidation and death threats by the intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka Army's 524 Brigade, residents said.
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SLMM chief in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 May 2002, 23:41 GMT]
The head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Retd. Major General Trond Furuhovde Friday held extensive discussions with Sri Lankan Navy officials at the Karainagar naval base in the Jaffna district in a bid to defuse the ongoing tension over the Navy’s refusal to permit access to the islets off Jaffna for political cadres of the Liberation Tigers.
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Jaffna fishermen say military restrictions not lifted

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2002, 16:18 GMT]
Fishermen in Jaffna this week protested that the Sri Lankan military was refusing to lift restrictions on their livelihoods, in breach of the terms of the permanent ceasefire signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers. The Navy meanwhile said that irrespective of the ceasefire agreement, it retains the right to impose restrictions at its own discretion.
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SLA leaves five schools, unusable say officials

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 May 2002, 12:45 GMT]
Education officials in Jaffna said Monday that they cannot commence classes in two schools vacated by the Sri Lanka Army in the Kopay division because most of the buildings in them are damaged. "We haven’t got any assurance from the military or the education ministry that the two schools are free of landmines and booby traps", one of them said. The Sri Lankan security forces occupy more than 80 schools in the Northeast province of the island, but have vacated only three in the north and two in the east so far.
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SLA urged to stop environmental destruction

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 17:43 GMT]
The Bishop of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India, Rt. Rev. S.Jebanesan, Friday appealed to the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army to take immediate steps to stop wanton destruction of coconut and Palmyra trees in the Jaffna district for military purposes.
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Point Pedro students protest army presence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2002, 11:39 GMT]
Hundreds of students from two high schools in Point Pedro Thursday protested demanding the immediate removal of Sri Lanka Army camps from their schools’ premises. The demonstration, which started at 9 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., was held in front of the Hartley College, but students from the nearby Vadamaradchi Methodist Girls' College also joined in, sources said.
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SLA, SLN said promoting fishing by Sinhalese in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:39 GMT]
The Federation of fisheries co-operative societies of Vadamaradchi complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Jaffna Friday that the Sri Lankan armed forces are backing Sinhala fishermen to engage in deep sea fishing off the coast of the northern peninsula while hindering local fishermen from plying their trade freely.
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Jaffna fishermen complain continuous navy harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 09:24 GMT]
The security forces are still harassing fishermen in Jaffna district, according to complaints lodged at the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission by several fisheries co-operative societies. Fishermen who are engaged fishing in Jaffna lagoon are subjected to body check by the navy before they enter their boats, sources said.
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Jaffna forces strengthen defences

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 May 2002, 23:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s security forces in Jaffna have strengthened their defences and increased their security checks on civilians, press reports said Wednesday. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) are building new defence lines and bunkers in the Thenmaradchi, Vadamaradchi and Valigamam sectors according to the Tamil language Thinakkural.
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