UXO explosion kills one, injures two in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2004, 18:07 GMT]
Vettivel Sivaloganathan, 37, a resident of Gurunagar, died on the spot and two others, Antony Prasanna (22) and S.Johnson (24), also of Gurunagar, sustained grievous injuries when a live artillery shell found abandoned in the Ariyalai-Nedunkulam area in the Jaffna town exploded Monday afternoon at about 12.35 p.m., police said.
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"Ceasefire has failed to bring normalcy to Jaffna residents"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2004, 19:22 GMT]
The Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JDHAC) Sunday handed over a memorandum to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna stating that normalcy has not returned to the lives of several thousand Tamil people including internally displaced in the peninsula even after two years of ceasefire, civil society sources said.
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SL soldiers charged in Chavakachcheri for traffic offence

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 16:41 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri Police Friday filed plaint against two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in the Magistrate’s court, charging them for causing injuries to a Tamil civilian by hitting him with their field motorbike on January 9th along the Post Office road in Chavakachcheri, legal sources said.
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Vadamaradchi civilian shot and wounded by Police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 16:34 GMT]
Mr. Kanapathy Sivakumar,22, was found in Vallipurakurichchi area in Vadamaradchi division in the Jaffna district with gun shot injuries Thursday. It is alleged that Police had shot him when he was transporting sand from Vallipurakurichchi area Wednesday night without heeding to a signal to stop, sources said.
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SLA troops assault fishermen over Indian poachers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 11:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka army troops Thursday assaulted fourteen civilians in Viyaparimoolai and Inparutty near Pt. Pedro town for capturing 27 Indian fishermen and 5 trawlers and for coming ashore during ‘prohibited’ hours. Fishermen from the two villages brought ashore Indians who were poaching in the seas off Jaffna’s Vadamaradchi coast Wednesday night. SLA troops assaulted an Indian fisherman for getting off his boat.
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Kumarapuram massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 16:43 GMT]
The seventh death anniversary of twenty-four Tamil civilians, including fourteen children, who were massacred by a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in Kumarapuram, in the Muttur division of the Trincomalee district, on February 11, 1996, was held Wednesday. In the 1996 massacre, another thirty Tamil civilians were seriously wounded, human rights sources said.
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Thampalakamam massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:23 GMT]
The sixth death anniversary of the killing of eight Tamil civilians including two students by Sri Lankan police on 1st February, 1998, was observed Sunday at Potkerney and Puthukuddiruppu, suburbs of Thampalakamam village in Trincomalee district, sources said. Thampalakamam is located twenty four km off south west of Trincomalee town on Trincomalee-Colombo highway.


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Seven SLA soldiers discharged from murder case

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 15:17 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri Magistrate Mr.P.Subramaniam Friday, on the instruction of the Attorney General, discharged all seven soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who were arrested and later released on bail in connection with the murder of a Tamil civilian, Pararajasingham Parameswaran, of Kodikamam in the year 2000. The magistrate made the order , legal sources said.


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Jaffna Police officer arrested for assaulting civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 17:40 GMT]
The Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara Thursday night caught red-handed a police constable who is alleged to have been assaulting civilians in the heart of Jaffna town on a complaint made by civil representatives, HRC sources said.


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Kokadichcholai massacre anniversary remembered

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 02:21 GMT]
Seventeeth anniversary of the Kokkadichcholai massacre, where Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) killed 86 Tamil workers in a shrimp farm on 28 January 1987 was commemorated near the memorial in Mahiladithivu Wednesday, sources said.
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India should not assist expansion of Palaly Airbase- Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2004, 16:39 GMT]
"India should desist from providing financial assistance to expand the runways of Palay airbase as it will help the Sri Lanka Government to annex additional fertile lands and residences of Jaffna people into the High Security Zone (HSZ)," said Minister of Hindu Affairs, Mr.Maheswaran, popular Tamil daily Uthayan reported in its Wednesday edition.


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Linganagar Tamils complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 18:41 GMT]
The People Welfare Society (PWF) of Linganagar Friday made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers manning a check point in the area are harassing the residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town, civil rights sources said.


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‘Sri Lanka army does not want war’ says Jaffna commander

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 12:52 GMT]
‘War is not the solution to the problem. The army does not want war. But we wont let the country be divided by war’, said Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the Sri Lankan armed forces commander for Jaffna speaking at a meeting on problems faced by refugees and civilians in the peninsula’s Valigamam North Division Wednesday. Former Sri Lanka army spokesman, Brig. Sanath Karunaratna, general officer commanding of SLA’s 51 Division in Jaffna was associated with Maj. Gen. Chandrapala at the meeting.
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Thamilchelvan deplores Sri Lanka President's 'arbitrary action'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 10:40 GMT]
The Sri Lankan "governing apparatus that should take forward the peace process with commitment and sufficient strength is in shambles. This no doubt is an imminent threat to the maintenance of the ceasefire with due integrity," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division addressing the conference of northeast donors Monday in Kilinochchi. He said that "the arbitrary action" of Sri Lanka’s President "has created problems of vast magnitude vis-à-vis the integrity of the CFA and the progress of the political negotiations."
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Colombo urged to repeal PTA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2004, 18:02 GMT]
A meeting to urge the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and to release detainees arrested under the PTA and held in prison for several years without a court hearing was organized by the Center of Human Rights and Development (CHRD) held at the Conference hall of Batticaloa Public Library Saturday, civil sources said.


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Vadamarachi mooring points can be dredged - Maj. Gen. Chandrapala

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 03:58 GMT]
The Commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala told fishermen's organisations on the peninsula's Vadamaradchi coast Thursday that they can dredge and rebuild mooring points for their boats from this month.
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Tigers launch drive to stop drug abuse in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2004, 13:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have launched a concerted campaign against drug abuse and AIDS in the Mannar District, Mr. S. Thangan, deputy leader of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, said Thursday. “Drug abuse has been on the increase in this district in recent times. It will ruin the moral fabric of our society. The problem is acute here because Mannar has become a key transit point for drug smuggling between India and Sri Lanka”, Mr. Thangan told TamilNet. He is currently in Mannar to expedite the campaign.
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Armed Muslim youths attack Amparai factory workers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 12:44 GMT]
Wednesday at 1.30pm, about 10 Muslim youths in Nainakadu, Sammanthurai in Amparai district attacked Tamil workers and Muslim owners in a brick factory and forced them to flee the workplace, security sources in Amparai said.


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Pro-Peace, United Sinhala leadership unlikely to emerge soon - Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 00:06 GMT]
"Our expectations of resuming peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka under a united leadership with clear authority to command Sri Lanka's security forces are fast receding," said V.Balakumaran, a senior member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, speaking at the Kumar Ponnambalam commemoration ceremony held at the Kailasapathy Hall of Jaffna Campus Monday, local media in Jaffna reported.
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Mannar human rights activist Fr Mary Bastian remembered

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2004, 14:56 GMT]
Tamils of Mannar district and Vankalai residents Tuesday remembered their parish priest Rev.Fr. Mary Bastian who was gunned down by the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army nineteen years ago on 6th January 1985 early morning around 12.30 a.m. Fr. Bastian worked for the poor and powerless citizens throughout his life and was instrumental in bringing atrocities and human right violations committed by the SLA in Mannar district to the notice of international human rights organizations.


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