Military-LTTE commanders meet at Muhamalai second time

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 18:40 GMT]
The delegations of the Sri Lanka armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam met Saturday at Muhamalai and discussed several issues regarding the question of resettling displaced families in high security zones and removal of fishing restriction in the Jaffna peninsula. The discussion, the second of its kind, commenced around ten in the morning, continued till six in the evening, sources said.
Full story >>

Human skull, bones found in SLA vacated premises

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 November 2002, 20:34 GMT]
Chavakachcheri Magistrate, Mr.Annalingam Premashankar, Wednesday evening inspected a house vacated recently by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mirusuvil where a human skull was discovered from the refuse dump, sources said.
Full story >>

Sea Tigers, SLN confer on Jaffna issues

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 November 2002, 12:44 GMT]
The Deputy Commander of the Sea Tigers Wednesday urged the Sri Lanka Navy not to engage in any action that would disrupt the peace negotiations to end the island’s conflict at a meeting with a Sri Lankan military delegation in the no man’s land in Muhamalai in southern Jaffna Wednesday.
Full story >>

MP calls for camp removal, opening of road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 November 2002, 01:55 GMT]
Selvam Adaikalanathan, Member of Parliament (MP) of the Vanni district, appealed to the Minister of Interior, Mr John Amaratunge, to remove the army detachment camped at the road leading to Kunjukulam village from the Mannar-Madawachchi road, sources said.
Full story >>

Kuchchaveli IDPs urge speedy resettlement

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 November 2002, 17:34 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil families from villages in Kuchchaveli division, 34 km north of the Trincomalee district and now residing in refugee camps elsewhere Sunday said that they should be resettled in their areas without delay and should be provided with necessary facilities. They attended a meeting held Sunday at Kuchchaveli Vivekanandan Maha Vidiyalayam where the resettlement of the displaced and their rehabilitation were discussed.
Full story >>

Kanjirankuda inquiry one sided - Chandra Nehru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 November 2002, 02:40 GMT]
"The Committee appointed to investigate the Kanjirankuda violence has produced a grossly one-sided report. I have no faith in this Committee. I urge the Prime Minister to appoint a new Committee that can maintain its independence and conduct an impartial and thorough investigation of the recent violence," said Chandra Nehru, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ampara district while speaking in the Parliament on 8 October.
Full story >>

Kanjirankuda report unacceptable - Vivekanandan

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 November 2002, 19:34 GMT]
"The report on the Kanjirankuda violence is mainly based on the statements given by members of the Special Task Force (STF) and representatives of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). No prominence is given to statements from the people affected by the violence and therefore I am not accepting the report," said Samithamby Vivekanandan, the only Tamil member of the three member committee appointed by the Sri Lanka Government to investigate the killings of eight Tamil civilians wounding at least 20 at Kanchirankuda on 9 October when the STF opened fire on protestors.
Full story >>

Tamil member of Kanchirankuda committee dissents

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 November 2002, 17:30 GMT]
The sole Tamil member of the committee appointed by Sri Lanka’s Interior Minister to inquire into the shooting incident at Kanchirankuda on the island’s southeastern coast on October 9, 2002 said Friday that he strongly disagreed with the conclusion of that his colleagues had arrived at.
Full story >>

Tigers help IDPs resettle in high security zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 18:08 GMT]
(News Feature) In a major gesture to reiterate their commitment to peace in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers Thursday helped displaced civilians settle in a village situated in one of their most heavily defended high security zones in the north. The village of Kudarappu is on Jaffna’s southeastern coast in the Nagar kovil sector where the armed forces of the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka face each other across heavily defended and mined Defence Lines.
Full story >>

Mannar Co-op council seeks building from SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 13:09 GMT]
The District Co-operative Council of Mannar has requested Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence to return a two-story building at the entrance to the northwestern town, occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces from 1990, officials said. The building for long functioned as the SLA’s office for issuing permits to civilians for entering and staying in the Mannar Island. The building’s upper floor was used by the SLA for interrogating and detaining civilians arrested on suspicion and during cordon and search operations.
Full story >>

Mylanthanai massacre accused make statements from dock

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2002, 18:20 GMT]
All eighteen accused soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday made statements from the dock in the Colombo High Court (HC) in the Mylanthanai massacre case denying their involvement in the crime. The case is being heard daly from 2nd October before a Sinhala speaking Jury at the request of the accused, who are also Sinhalese.
Full story >>

Long term political matters on Talks agenda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 November 2002, 13:58 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), at the conclusion of the second meeting of the first round of peace talks held in Thailand, agreed to set up a joint task force (JTF) to identify immediate humanitarian and rehabilitation needs of north east, work towards military de-escalation and to look at political questions at the heart of two decades of war. The JTF is first tasked to prepare for a political-level meeting of key government s to take place in Norway on 25 November.
Full story >>

Assessing progress of Chemmani investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 18:42 GMT]
Amnesty International said in 1997 that as many as 600 people who "disappeared" in the Jaffna peninsula after the Sri Lankan Army moved into the area in 1996, "died under torture or been deliberately killed." A soldier involved in the crimes alleged that Chemmani was where bodies of those disappeared were clandestinely buried. However, the Chemmani mass grave investigation has become a victim of the judicial limbo common in Sri Lanka when powerful interests are implicated. Ethnic politics and the fallout of an active war have also contributed to the lack of forward movement in the case.
Full story >>

Protesters demand removal of SLA camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 October 2002, 16:32 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil civilians Thursday morning around 7.30 launched a sit-in-protest in front of the Chavakacheri Divisional Secretary (DS) office, demanding the immediate removal of the Sri Lanka Army camp located between Puttur junction and Kanaganpuliyadi junction in Thenmaradchi area in Jaffna district.
Full story >>

Tamil shops close to STF camp burnt down

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 October 2002, 18:47 GMT]
Two shops owned by Tamils at Pottuvil, about five hundred meters from Kanchirankuda Special Task Force camp in Ampara district, were burnt down by unidentified persons, around 12.30 a.m. Wednesday morning, sources in Ampara said.
Full story >>

Trinco 'hartal' killing inquest continues

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 October 2002, 21:17 GMT]
The inquest into the killing of three Tamil civilians in a grenade attack and gun fire on October 11 in Trincomalee town resumed Tuesday afternoon before the Trincomalee Magistrate Mr.S.Thiagendran.
Full story >>

Left PA government because Kumaratunga was bent on war - Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 October 2002, 17:10 GMT]
“Prof. G.L Pieris, Mr. S. B Dissanayaka and I left People’s Alliance government last year because President Chandrika Kumaratunga was bent on war and detested peace. We could have been ministers in the PA government until 2005. But had we remained in the PA regime for the full term of the Parliament elected in 2000, war would have continued in this country. It is in this context that we left the PA and helped form a new government. The war came to an end because of this government,” said Sri Lanka’s Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera.
Full story >>

Kanjirankuda inquiry in Tirukovil completed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2002, 19:13 GMT]
The three-member committee appointed to investigate the October 9 killings of eight Tamil civilians at Kanjirankuda completed its sittings at Thirukovil divisional secretariat auditorium today. The committee will have further two days of hearings at the Bandaranaike Memorial Hall in Colombo.


Full story >>

Trincomalee hartal killing inquest begins

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002, 17:25 GMT]
The inquest into the killing of three Tamil civilians on October 11 at Abeyapura in the east port town in a gun and grenade attack commenced Wednesday before the Trincomalee Magistrate Mr.S.Thiagendran.
Full story >>

Residents urge removal of Kanchirankuda, Thirukovil STF camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002, 10:45 GMT]
Several residents of Thirukovil and adjacent villages pleaded before the Committee of Inquiry that is probing into the killing of eight Tamil civilians at Kanchirankuda recently that the Special Task Force camps in the area should be removed to ensure their freedom of movement and normalize their day-to-day lives.
Full story >>