Tigers open political office in VVT

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 April 2002, 18:40 GMT]
"The interim administration is a necessary condition for restoring normal life in our homeland that has been destroyed by more than eighteen years of war waged on us by the Sri Lankan state. Therefore it is also an absolutely necessary condition for sustaining our people's faith in this peace process, said Mr. M. K Sivajilingam, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, addressing the function at the opening of the political office of the Liberation Tigers for the Vadamaradchi division of the northern peninsula Monday morning.
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SLA re-imposes fishing restriction in Manalkadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 April 2002, 11:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Sunday barred fifty fishermen of Manalkaadu, on the southeastern coast of Jaffna, from setting out to sea for fishing in the early hours of the morning. The fishermen's national identity cards were sized by the military. They were then taken to the SLA camp at Kudathanai.
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Massive 'Pongu Thamil' rally in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 April 2002, 14:55 GMT]
Over sixty thousand people attended 'Pongu Thamil' (Upsurge) rally held at Jaffna University medical faculty grounds Wednesday afternoon, journalists in the northern peninsula said. Processions from Nallur Kandasamy Temple premises, Kokuvil Hindu College premises and Saththiram junction commenced around 2 p.m. and reached the venue of the rally around four p.m. Most of the roads in the Jaffna peninsula were gaily decorated with red and yellow flags.
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SLA urged to reopen Nagarkovil main road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 April 2002, 19:13 GMT]
The Divisional Secretary (DS) of Point Pedro and education officials in the Vadamaradchi area in Jaffna district have appealed to the Sri Lanka Army to reopen the main road from Point Pedro through Nagar Kovil to Aliyawallai to enable smooth functioning of schools and to allow free movement of resettled families.
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Shortcomings in Vanni schools to be addressed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2002, 17:42 GMT]
"During the past last ten years no school development work had taken place in Vanni region. No permanent buildings have been provided to majority of the schools. Many schools in the region are understaffed, and acute shortage for furniture prevails in these schools," said Provincial Director of Education Mr.I.M.Issadeen who returned after a four-day visit to the Vanni region, Friday.
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SLA said exacerbating Vadamaradchi fishermen's suffering

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 March 2002, 20:39 GMT]
Spokespersons for fishermen's societies in Jaffna's Vadamaradchi division told TamilNet that the Sri Lanka army curtailed fishing hours Saturday to punish them for putting up posters and banners welcoming the Liberation Tigers to the northern peninsula. They said that the military intelligence unit of the SLA's 52-4 brigade removed the banners and posters and questioned civilians.
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Fishermen hoist black flag for Independence Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 08:14 GMT]
Protesting fishermen who are urging Colombo to lift the restrictions and ban on fishing in the northern peninsula Monday flew black flags in the Jaffna District Secretariat. Jaffna’s Government Agent, Mr.K. Shanmuganathan, could not hoist the Sri Lankan national flag and hold the customary ceremony at the secretariat Monday to mark 54th anniversary of the island’s independence from British rule because of the fishermen’s protest, officials said.
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Fishermen's protest shuts down Jaffna secretariat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2002, 12:03 GMT]
More than a seven hundred fishermen began a protest sit in front of the Jaffna district secretariat Wednesday morning from 7.30 a.m. The fishermen blocked government officials from entering the Jaffna district secretariat. They vowed to continue the protest if the government doesnít take steps to lift the ban and restrictions imposed by the Sri Lankan security forces on fishing in Jaffna.
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SLA assaults fishermen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2002, 18:04 GMT]
Two fishermen were severely assaulted by the Sri Lanka Army personnel Tuesday morning in the coastal village of Munai in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna, sources said. SLA soldiers assaulted Viknaraja Iyangaran, 16, and T. Tharmu, 40, who returned to shore in their traditional catamaran with. The soldiers confiscated their fishing gear and the day's catch in their vessel.
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SLN assaults fishermen in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2002, 17:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy assaulted and tortured four fishermen in the sea off Pulmoddai, about 50 kilometres north of Trincomalee Sunday morning Mr. R. Sampanthan, the Tamil National Alliance MP for the district, told TamilNet. He said that he has brought the matter to the notice of the local SLN commander. Meanwhile, in Jaffna the Sri Lanka army has barred five fishermen in a coastal settlement in Thumpalai, near Pt. Pedro, from fishing as punishment for setting out to sea one hour before the stipulated time.
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Jaffna fishermen urge minister to lift restrictions

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2002, 19:20 GMT]
"Remove the total ban on fishing from Thikkam to Thondamanar and let us fish freely at night. There is no point in granting us a short time concessions and relief", said Mr.S.Thavaratnam, the President of the Federation of Northern Fishermen's Societies, addressing a meeting Monday at Hartley College in Pt. Pedro between the Minister for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardana and representatives of fishermen's organisations in Jaffna. The Sri Lankan government announced Friday that it would allow Tamil fishermen two extra hours to fish in the Jaffna lagoon and in the seas off a small part of the peninsula's eastern coastline.
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SLN re-imposes briefly eased fishing restriction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2002, 19:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday re-imposed the restriction on fishing off the Vadamaradchi coast of Jaffna that it had partially eased following the United National Front government's decision to make good will gestures towards creating a conducive atmosphere for starting the peace process. Fishermen in Katkovalam and Sakkottai alleged that the SLN had demanded part of their daily catch in return for easing the limit on the hours allowed for fishing off this coast. All fishing in the seas off the Vadamaradchi coast from Thikkam to Thondamanar is still banned.
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TNA Vadamaradchi office attacked

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2001, 13:01 GMT]
A grenade was lobbed on the Tamil National Alliance office for the Vadamaradchi division of Jaffna Sunday night around 8.30. The office was damaged in the attack. The TNA’s chief organiser for the Vadamaradchi division, Mr. S. Aravindan told Tamilnet that he was the target of the grenade attack. He said that gunmen from the Eelam People’s Demoratic Party, a key coalition partner of the President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s defeated People’s Alliance, had lobbed the grenade. The TNA’s Vadamaradchi regional office is located in the Nelliyadi town.
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UNF’s stand on Jaffna fishing ban questioned

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2001, 11:29 GMT]
The federation of Vadamaradchi fishermen’s co-operative societies said that it intends to begin demonstrations and sit in protests soon if the new government does not take meaningful steps to lift the total ban on fishing in the seas off coast between Thikkam and Thondmanar and the five-hour restriction along the Katkovalam coast in Pt. Pedro. A spokesman for the federation said that Sri Lanka army soldiers assaulted the secretary and treasurer of the Munai Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Sunday for setting out to sea before the stipulated time.
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Villagers attack EPDP camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2001, 07:43 GMT]
Angry villagers attacked two EPDP camps at Neliyaddy and Valvettithurai in Vadamaradchi in Jaffna Wednesday night and completely destroyed them, said sources in the northern town.
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EPDP threats hassle Jaffna candidates

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2001, 17:16 GMT]
The chief candidate of the United National Party in Jaffna, Mr. T. Maheswaran wrote to the Commissioner of Elections Wednesday that polling booths in the islands of Karainagar, Kayts, Nainathivu and Delft should be located in the peninsula because the serious threat posed by the EPDP. He said that heavily armed cadres of the EPDP are intimidating and preventing candidates of other parties from entering the islands. Meanwhile, Mr. Anandasangari, the chief candidate in Jaffna for the Tamil National Alliance said that he was threatened by armed members of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in Nelliyadi where he went to open a campaign office Wednesday.
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'Lift ban or let us go to Vanni'- Jaffna fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2001, 13:40 GMT]
More than three thousand fishermen and women demonstrated in Pt. Pedro town Tuesday against Sri Lanka Army restrictions on fishing in the seas off the Jaffna peninsula's Vadamaradchi coast. The fishermen demanded that the SLA should either lift the restrictions and ban or allow them to leave Jaffna and to settle in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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Vadamaradchi fishing restrictions tightened further

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2001, 14:04 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army banned fishing at all times in Munai, a coastal village near Pt. Pedro from Tuesday. The army has also banned fishing in the coastal waters off the villages of Suppar Madam, Inparutty and Sakkottai in the Pt. Pedro area from 7 October. Fishing has also completely been banned from Thikkam to Thondamanar on the coast of the Vadamaradchi division of the Jaffna peninsula. The Sri Lanka Navy, meanwhile seized two catamarans from fishermen at sea off the Munai coast Monday night. The fishermen were arrested but released later.
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IDP visiting home in Thenmaradchi knifed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 September 2001, 20:12 GMT]
Mr. Sinnathamby Kandaiah, 53, who went to see his home in Kodikamam in the Thenmaradchi division southeast of Jaffna town Saturday was admitted to the Manthikai hospital with knife wounds. Relatives who brought him to the hospital around 4.30 this afternoon said that he was found lying unconscious and that there were cuts on his body. The man, who regained consciousness later in the day, said he was knifed by Sri Lanka army soldiers in the area. Kandaiah's family was displaced by heavy fighting between the SLA and the LTTE last year.
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Three civilians hospitalized after assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 22:55 GMT]
Three civilians severely injured in an indiscriminate attack by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Navanthurai, Jaffna, on Thursday were admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The victims were Anthonithas Pedropillai (37), Sebastian Ivan (22), and Saminathan Gunaseelan (32), hospital sources said.
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