New Sinhala families settled in Nelukkulam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Even as thousands of internally displaced Tamil people are languishing in refugee camps, prevented by the Sri Lanka Army from resettling in their own homes, Sri Lankan government officials with the support of the SLA are actively engaged in recruiting new Sinhala families from the South to settle in lands abandoned by earlier Sinhala occupants in the traditional Tamil village of Nelukkulam in the Manalaru region in the Mullaitivu district, sources said.
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Fear of re-introduction of Police registration unfounded - Amaratunge

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2003, 10:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Government is not contemplating re-introducing legislation requiring Tamils residing in Colombo to register the details of households with the Police. Tamil people therefore need not worry about such procedures coming into force again, said John Amaratunge, Minister of Interior.


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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.
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GOSL, LTTE hold high-level conference in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 January 2003, 16:35 GMT]
A high level conference between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE, observed by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, was held from 10:15 am to 3:30 pm Thursday at the Vavunatheevu divisional secretariat, located in no-man’s land in the Batticaloa district, sources said.
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Downward trend in ceasefire violations seen - SLMM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 13:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission (SLMM) in a press release issued today observed that the positive and ongoing development in the ceasefire during the last several months has been the decrease in the number of ceasefire violations. Most number of violations occurred in December was in Batticaloa(61) followed by Jaffna(46), Vavuniya(16), Ampara(7) and Trincomalee(1), the release said.
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Paramilitary group member shot in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 17:51 GMT]
M. Uthayakumar, 25, a member of the paramilitary Varathan group working closely with the Special Task Force, a paramilitary force of the Sri Lankan government, was shot today at 6:55 pm in Aaraiyampathy in the Batticaloa district, and is admitted at the Batticaloa hospital where he is undergoing emergency surgery and in critical condition, sources in Batticaloa said.


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Peace talks in September - Norway

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 August 2002, 16:31 GMT]
Direct talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government will commence in Thailand with Norwegian facilitation between 12th and 17th of September, an official statement by the Norwegian government said Wednesday.
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Ceasefire has reduced human rights violations - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 11:15 GMT]
Ending a two-week visit to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International (AI) delegates welcomed the positive engagement and cooperation from both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on issues of human rights and the peace process. "The current climate is one of pragmatic hope," Derek Evans, head of the delegation said. "The cease-fire agreement has made a significant impact in reducing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."
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SLMM frees arrested youths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 11:35 GMT]
Four Tamil youths arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) and subsequently released without charge have protested their abductions to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office in Ampara, press reports said. The youths were released after the intervention of an SLMM official.
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CID questions Kumaratunga's ex- media advisor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2002, 18:15 GMT]
Top officials of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Wednesday questioned controversial Sinhala film actor Sanath Gunatileke who has been accused of abductions, intimidation and malpractices during the People's Alliance regime, whilst serving as the media spokesman for President Chandrika Kumaratunge for about six years, police sources said.
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Judge forbids use of ambulance for arrests

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 March 2001, 12:23 GMT]
The Vavuniya District judge, Mr. Manickavasagar Ilancheliyan Saturday ordered the Vavuniya Police to stop using an ambulance for arresting persons in the northern border town. He noted in his order that it has come to light that a group of Policemen led by an Inspector was responsible for the abductions in Vavuniya town this month by armed persons operating in ambulances, a white van and a jeep sans number plates. The judge told the Police that it was against the Geneva conventions to use ambulances for arresting people and ordered them to stop the practice forthwith. The order sheds light for the first time on the abduction of hundreds of persons by armed groups operating in ambulances in towns controlled by the Sri Lankan security forces in the north and east since the mid eighties.
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Abductions in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 March 2000, 20:38 GMT]
A young woman and a youth have reportedly been abducted by unidentified men in a white van in the northern town of Vavuniya, Human Rights Commission (HRC) officials said.
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MP probes villagers’ ‘disappearances’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 1999, 10:13 GMT]
(Correction) Three Tamil villagers, who were arrested by Sinhala homeguards, were reported to have been murdered, said sources in the Eastern province. However, earlier reports that their mutilated bodies had been recovered were false.
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SLA accused of abductions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 August 1999, 13:08 GMT]
Unidentified men, believed to be members of the Sri Lanka Army's intelligence unit abducted two youths at Iruthayapuram junction, 4 km. north of Batticaloa, yesterday noon, their relatives informed human rights organisations.
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Pararajasingham protests over new abductions

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham TULF MP for Batticaloa district protested against the abduction of Tamil youth in Batticaloa by unidentified members of the Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil paramilitary groups in a fax to the Deputy Minister for Defence Mr. Anuruddha Ratwatte.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A PLOTE militant suspected of several murders is organising a satyagraha campaign to aid his election campaign and the LTTE have destroyed two SLA trucks at Omanthai.
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