LTTE releases two Sri Lankan police constables

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2003, 13:48 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday handed over two Sri Lankan police constables who were in its custody to the Muttur Assistant Superintendent of Police D.Samarakone and Serunuwara Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr.Ajith Rohana near Kattaiparichchan Bridge in the presence of members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), security sources said.


Full story >>

SLA occupation must cease for normalcy to return - GA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 May 2003, 10:53 GMT]
"Normalcy in the day to day lives of residents of Jaffna district will not return until Sri Lanka Army (SLA) vacates from civilian houses and public buildings," said the Jaffna Government Agent (GA) S. Pathamanathan when he met US Embassy head of Political section Chris Long at the Jaffna Beach Hotel yesterday, local press reports said.


Full story >>

SLA suspends construction of new camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2003, 11:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has suspended its construction work on new camps at Jaffna Fort, Mallakam old railway station and court buildings and at Chunnakam junction, civilian sources in Jaffna said. They added that no army personnel were seen at the sites selected for new camps since Saturday evening and that the heavy machinery used for putting up structures for new camps have been moved from the sites.


Full story >>

1987 killings still haunt Vakarai residents

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2003, 02:21 GMT]
Nearly sixteen years ago residents of Thonithandamadu village in Vakarai region in Batticaloa district were witness to gruesome killings when soldiers of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shot, hacked to death and burnt the bodies of ten Tamil civilians. The memory still haunts the relatives of the victims and the residents of the impoverished village.


Full story >>

Batticaloa tense amid killing and grenade attacks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2003, 16:41 GMT]
Batticaloa town was tense Wednesday night as an operative of the Sri Lanka army’s military intelligence was shot dead while a grenade was also lobbed at the residence of Mr. Indrakumar Prasanna, secretary general of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO). The TELO is a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance.
Full story >>

Valikamam north IDPs picket demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 14:24 GMT]
Hundreds of internally displaced families of Valikamam north Tuesday held a two hour picketing campaign in front of the Jaffna district secretariat, demanding that they should be allowed to resettle in their lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's Canadian High Commissioner begins Eastern tour

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2003, 16:06 GMT]
In Commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relationships between Sri Lanka and Canada, the Canadian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Ms. Valerie Raymond, arrived in Trincomalee Monday, beginning a six-day tour of the Eastern province, sources said.
Full story >>

Vesak Massacre remembered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 18:19 GMT]
In Aayiththiyamalai, a village in the district’s interior, 16 kilometres west of the eastern town, a special service was held Saturday at the local church for ten orphans who were massacred by Sri Lanka army soldiers and Policemen during the Vesak festival in Batticaloa town three years ago on 17 May. Sri Lankan armed forces, however, celebrated Vesak, the annual Buddhist light festival as usual in Batticaloa this week.
Full story >>

Colombo launches stopgap measure in north

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 12:34 GMT]
A military officer appointed by Colombo to assess the number of houses and properties occupied by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) in Jaffna began work Friday, according to SLA sources. The officer, Lt. Col. M. G. Ratnayake, who was appointed to the position Wednesday by Colombo, will receive applications from civilians in Jaffna whose homes and lands are still occupied by the military, the sources said. The stopgap measure to get the stalled peace talks back on track by Colombo got lukewarm reception in the northern town.
Full story >>

Pall of boat massacre memory hangs over islands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2003, 13:46 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhala pilgrims now freely visit the Buddhist shrine in the island of Nainathivu, off Jaffna, after almost two decades. But the pall of Sri Lanka Navy presence continues to cast a shadow on Tamils who are still subjected to checks and regulations. Eighteen years ago, on 15 May, thirty eight Tamil passengers, including a two year old child, travelling in boat called ‘Kumudhini’ from the island of Delft to the Kurikkatuvan Jetty on the island of Punguduthivu were hacked to death at sea by armed persons suspected to be Sri Lanka Navy personnel.
Full story >>

LTTE,TNA spell out basis for Tokyo meet participation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:55 GMT]
“The LTTE is of the view that before it participates in the Tokyo Aid Conference currently fixed for 9th and 10th June, the administrative, financial and other structures with adequate powers need to be established in order to reconstruct the northeast and to rehabilitate and restore normal civilian life in the northeast province”, said the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Wednesday on the outcome of the talks its delegation had with the LTTE political leadership on Tuesday in Killinochchi.
Full story >>

Forcible occupation of land no basis for harmony - BBC Sinhala service head

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2003, 00:02 GMT]
Speaking at the South Asia Discussion Group of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London Wednesday, Mr. Priyath Liyanage, head of Sandesiya, the BBC’s Sinhala service, said the “effort to avoid the involvement of the Tamil Tigers” in rehabilitation and development in the north raises the question of the other ulterior agendas by Colombo.
Full story >>

Bodies wash ashore in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2003, 10:02 GMT]
Two bodies, suspected to be those of Indian fishermen or returning Tamil refugees, washed ashore in Mannar this week, district court sources in the northwestern island town said Thursday. A Sri Lanka army sentry near the Thallaady military base in Mannar detected one on 6 May and a civilian found the other in Talaimannar Wednesday.
Full story >>

SLA will relocate 152 military units in NE - Marapone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 16:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka's defence minister Mr.Tilak Marapone Wednesday said his government has decided to relocate about one hundred fifty two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units in the northeast province and the relocation would take place in a manner that will not endanger the national security of the country, sources said.


Full story >>

Civilians picket garrison work outside Jaffna Fort

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2003, 10:29 GMT]
Hundreds of civilians Monday morning picketed the entrance of Jaffna Fort preventing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police from clearing the area outside the Jaffna fort in preparation for relocating the Jaffna garrison of the SLA. The Jaffna District Peoples Organizations and Jaffna University Students Union organized the picketing campaign, sources said.


Full story >>

Displaced villagers struggle to revive Thennamaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2003, 11:58 GMT]
A group of displaced Thennamaravadi villagers trekked through jungles Saturday morning to visit their abandoned traditional Tamil village about seventy two km north of Trincomalee district and reported that the entire village had been destroyed and remnants of all civilian homes, school buildings and Pilliayar temple are overgrown with shrub jungles, sources said.


Full story >>

Ex-EPDP Chairman shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 17:44 GMT]
Former chairman of the Karaveddy south/west Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) Mr.Tharmarajah Jeyarajah was shot dead Saturday around 6 p.m. at Thumpalai Maniayakaran junction near Point Pedro by unidentified gunmen who came in a motorbike, police sources said.
Full story >>

New HSZ location not compatible with CFA - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2003, 16:10 GMT]
In a letter addressed to Mr. Austin Fernando, secretary to the Ministry of Defence in Sri Lanka, Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of the political section of the LTTE, expressed LTTE's dismay at SLA's new proposal to relocate the High Security Zone (HSZ) within Jaffna town. He further requested early action to move the military complexes from densely populated areas.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka appeals to LTTE to resume talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2003, 10:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister this week admitted that efforts to restore normalcy to the Tamil areas had not taken place “at the pace which we might have desired” and vowing matters would improve, appealed to the Liberation Tigers to nevertheless resume peace talks which the LTTE had put on hold two weeks ago.
Full story >>

Compensation delay for Kanjirankuda victims decried

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2003, 17:44 GMT]
Relatives of the 7 Tamil civilians shot dead by the commandos of the Special Task Force, an elite wing of the Sri Lankan armed forces, during a public protest in Kanjirankudah, 84 kilometres south of Batticaloa, on 9 October 2002 have not received any compensation, said Batticaloa district parliamentarian Chandra Nehru.
Full story >>